I feel like such a grown-up!

So I noticed that this year all the Christmas cards I got were addressed to "Waiyee & Jon" rather than just to me and were mostly from other couples, ie. my friends and their significant others even if I don't really know the partner. I don't remember this being the case in previous years. When did I become middle-aged?

Just an observation.

PS - Sorry you didn't get a card from me (and Jon!) this year, I just never got around to it.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to one and all! I am actually feeling festive this year, which is a big change. It takes a lot to beat the bah humbug out of me but I think the new office was too tough for me - lots of home-made decoration making (with varying degrees of success and rocketing tackiness and amusement) and playing cheesy Christmas tunes wore me down. I've been dragging it out a bit too - an early Christmas lunch with one of the departments, another lunch with my boss and the Department Heads, a dinner with close friends and then the office Christmas party last week which was fun, the photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78362&l=b1dff&id=692170356
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78438&l=1fe54&id=692170356
But this is my favourite picture from the night:









I got a generous and thoughtful gift from my boss, which was a very pleasant surprise, and was even sent flowers from his wife! I even went as far as to get a tree this year, and have a big feast planned for Christmas day. It'll be a fairly quiet one, just my dad, Jon and my cousin and myself, but we will eat with Christmas spirit. I'm excited.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season, with lots of love,
Poonie xx

More California adventures

Look at those happy sunkissed faces! Who are those people? They are the people we would be if we lived somewhere so warm we could be outside in t-shirts and feeling the warm sun on our skin in mid-November. I did have to question why Jon moved to cold and gloomy London when we went back for another visit last month. Crazy!

It was a shorter trip than usual so it was hectic, we packed a lot in. It was a good trip though, we had a lot of fun. We did the usual friends and family roadshow and managed to get around to seeing everyone...I think. We also managed to visit with a couple of my friends who are newly implanted in California.







Vanessa in San Diego

John S. in LA on his first day as an official California resident

And of course there were all the usual suspects -

Lauri and Andy and little Michael who is growing like a weed!

Jon's cronies

Chris and Doreen and their new addition, little Rachael

And of course we ate a lot of meals, some good, some just okay, but all huge! Here are just a couple of examples:

Dinosaur ribs from Lucille's

Chili cheese fries from The Hat

We spent Thanksgiving with Jon's folks at what is now their main home in Henderson, Nevada. We were there for a couple of days and it was pretty low key. Jon and I went to the Strip the night before Thanksgiving and it was the quietest we'd ever seen it, so we walked around a bit and then called it a night. Thanksgiving day was spent at the house of some friends of Jon's parents, where we ate heartily. Then after a visit to Lake Las Vegas the next day, Jon and I flew back to Cali to hang out at the Fullerton house for the rest of our stay.

We had a great time eating, shopping with our favourable exchange rate, and seeing everyone and just enjoying winter sunshine. I have to admit that this is the first trip where I've felt a little more attracted to California. I was probably seduced by the sunshine and the fact that you can get so much more property for your money than in London but I was seriously thinking more about our possible move back in a few years. And I never thought I'd say this but I actually really enjoyed being in LA when we went up to meet John S. for lunch and actually felt at home! I'm guessing it was more the familiarity of seeing John but still, it was strange!

If you fancy checking out the photos, here's where you'll find them: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77108&l=f7e58&id=692170356

Another year older and not much wiser

I celebrated another notch on my life post a month ago. It was the first year in a few I haven't been away for my birthday, but we were flying out to the States a couple of days later so decided to stay home and keep it low key. It was a nice day, even though it was the first time I have worked on my birthday for years. The folks at work found out and I got serenaded at my desk, which was nice. Then Jon turned up with flowers and we went out for some drinks with friends. Some people couldn't make it, as expected since it was a school night, but it wasn't a bad turnout and it was great to see everyone. I was far too deep into the pink bubbly most of the night to get many pictures but you get the idea.

Deepest Wales

Back in October we went on one of our rare weekend getaways this year to Conwy in north Wales. Jon's friend Jenn from California now lives here with her English hubby Pete and they were having their second wedding here in the UK following the main event which was in LA earlier in the year. (Transatlantic couples unite!!) It was a great excuse to go away for the weekend somewhere we wouldn't normally think to go, and fun to see some of the Fullerton crowd too. Here they are: (L-R) Rick - friend and ex-flatmate of the bride, Anne - sister of the bride, Jenn - the bride, Jon.

Conwy is a really cute little walled and castled town and we had fun exploring. The people were friendly and we got a really nice hotel so all in all it was a great trip. Long drive though!

The missing months

You may have noticed I've been shockingly absent for the last few months, so if you're reading this, thanks for still being here! It's been a really busy time since the last post, and I'll spare you too much detail since it's all quite fuzzy to me now anyway, and give you the highlights.

Well, I started my new job at Turner Broadcasting right after we got back from San Francisco in April. I got off to a good start and hit the ground running and haven't looked back since. 8 months on I'm still loving it there and feeling very glad I made the right decision. It was pretty surreal at first, but now that I've got used to sharing the office with various cartoon characters, attending staff meetings where we sit on the floor and watch cartoons, having a TV on my desk and a giant jelly bean machine by the door, and attending meetings in rooms called Shaggy, Dibble and My Fair Lady, it's just another day at the office. The job is busy but that's not a bad thing, we all know the devil likes to make work for my idle thumbs! It's not too stressful, but keeps me out of trouble and I'm feeling motivated, excited and I'm learning a lot. I also feel much more settled there now and have a good relationship with my boss and other colleagues, so all is good.

Travel wise it's been a slower year. We've been away a few times so I can't really complain, but the frequent mini-breaks have dried up somewhat, mostly due to work commitments. Jon, by the way, has changed jobs twice this year! He is now back at the first company he worked for in London, now in a permanent role and much happier. Who knew we would someday both be happy at work simultaneously!

Anyway, I digress, we were talking about travel. We were in Istanbul in June, with Jon's parents. They were on another European visit to Barcelona, London and a guided tour of Turkey so we met them in Istanbul for the long weekend. This was my second time there, the first being at least 10 or so years ago, and I liked it as much as I remembered. It's a very cool city, straddling the east and the west both geographically and culturally. We stayed in the Old City with a view of the Blue Mosque from the restaurant terrace. It's a shame we were only there a short time but we had fun exploring the city a little - the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkopi, the Grand Bazaar and a cruise of the Bosphorus.

Shortly after that we spent a few days in Tuscany, for Jon's birthday. We were in our favourite little walled city of Lucca, almost exactly 4 years after our last trip there together. It was gloriously sunny and we had a great relaxing break. We spent a lot of time with our lovely host Annie, who took us to the beach and out for some very good meals. We also took a day trip to Florence. It seemed very crowded compared to Lucca and we did a whirlwind walk-around checking out the must-see sights and then escaped back to the far more chilled out haven of Lucca. I have a feeling there will be future posts about other trips to Lucca and Italy.

We spent the rest of the summer at home in London, with Jon starting a new job and then another new job, and me settling into mine a bit more. For my overseas readers, we had a miserable summer in London. Barely a warm day and just the promise of sun. So we booked a trip to California for November so we would have something to look forward to!

More later, on North Wales and California (in that order).