Flat Hunting, Job Interviewing, and Market Exploring!!!

It has been another exciting week in the "Big Smoke!"  

The flat we found the week before didn't end up working out for us. The tenant decided to not move out after all... even though he had moved overseas?! Go figure. So we hit the 'letting market' again to find another place. We found another great spot, but the landlord wanted a 2 year contract, which is very unusual. Our relocation company suggested that we not accept and continue our search.... So I set up a few more showings for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since Jeff started work on Monday and we had to be out of our temporary accommodations soon, the pressure was on to really find a place. Unfortunately, we had exhausted our options in the area we liked (Fulham) so we branched out to an area a little further north to West London, vs Southwest London (Barons Court/Shepherds Bush) . I saw 3 properties on Monday and 3 more on Tuesday. I found one that would work great on Tuesday! It has plenty of closet space, a combined living room and dining area, bathtub and storage in the bathroom, already has a tv, is fairly close to a tub stop and was a good price! (Even though I never thought I pay this much for a ~400 SQFT flat... Raleigh is really a bargain!!! haha)

I put in an offer that day and it was excepted!!! We are moving in tomorrow afternoon :) Here are some pictures from the website... more to follow once we settle in some.

The bathroom

 The Bedroom

The floorplan

 The Kitchen

 The living room

In between the appointments to see flats, I had several job interviews this week. I interviewed with 3 different companies. 2 were follow-ups from phone interviews I had prior to leaving the US and 1 was with a new company for the 1st round of interviews. I have since been contacted for the 2nd round with them! Fingers are crossed that I can secure a job with one of these amazing organizations.

Jeff's week has been fairly busy as well. He started on Monday and has been getting into the swing of things at the office. Clearly the London office is much larger than the Raleigh office. The human GPS did a fantastic job at figuring out his way to the office with out his smart all week too! (It took a little longer to get his phone unlocked since it was on a corporate plan, so we only had my phone for the first week or so we were here.) 

To celebrate the big week, we went out to dinner with some friends of a friend, Giorgio and Jeff! We had a blast catching up with them! We meet up at a near by tube stop and then walked over to a Vietnamese restaurant. They had been several times before, so we left the ordering up to them and they did not disappoint! We loved it all. 

Afterwards we went out for a few drinks. I had my first go at a Pimms and Lemonade (aka sprite)! It was delicious! It is similar to Sangria but better. 

Cassie thank you so much for introducing us to them! and Giorgio and Jeff we had a great time! Can't wait to meet up again soon :) xo

This weekend we had a few loose ends with the flat we had to take care of, but afterwards we went out to explore the city some more! We started out with exploring the Sherhard's Bush area some.. since this is where we will be living now. Our flat is about a 15 minute walk to one of the nicest and biggest shopping malls I have ever been to before! It has 18 theatres on the top floor, all the prestigious stores (think Tiffany, Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo, Prada, etc), several champagne bars inside the mall that are set up as 'kiosk' in the middle like at home, the biggest grocery store (Marks & Spencers) that I have seen so far, and numerous restaurants along the outside of the mall.  This could be a nice to live near... or could be super dangerous! haha A fifteen minute walk in the other direction, leads to a much quieter area that has 2 large parks and some nice local grocery stores and pubs. I think we will really enjoy this location :)

Later in the afternoon we started to explore the Covent Gardens area. There were several isles of arts and crafts, as well as street performers. Here are a few fun pictures!

The Apple Market at Covent Gardens

Jeff talked me to give this guy some change.. and then took enough pictures to tell the whole story! Enjoy!

(I had a hair in my mouth.. I promise I was't picking my nose:) )

On Sunday, we went to the 'Museum of London' to learn more about the cities history. It was an interesting place and had some pretty cool exhibits. There is so much history here, it is amazing!

Jeff having fun with the hat and buckets firefighters used to put out the great fire :)

Some fun facts for the week: Men do not wear undershirts period. There are foxes that roam the streets in central London. Black cab drivers go to college to drive a cab. (The mini cabs do not and are half the price of a black cab!) 

Hopefully I will have more updates this week on the job front. Keep me in your prayers and thoughts!

Cheers! 

Learning the lay of the land

We have arrived!!!! And we have been on the move ever since :) 

We landed on Wednesday morning around 6 am. It was a pleasant flight, with a few bumps here and there, but we got to sit together and we were away from the screaming kid. We decided to save a few pounds and take the tube to our temporary accommodations in Southwark. Might as well jump into it and not get used to the easy route with a taxi! It was quite the adventure with it being rush hour and each of us having 2 massive bags... but we made it okay. 

Once we got some rest, we have been doing errands with a little sight seeing in between. We have our bank account set up, a working phone (thanks Julie!!!), and hopefully a flat secured soon. The most interesting of these is obviously the flat hunting. We found one that we absolutely love.....but until I have a job, we may not qualify for it. Fingers crossed we can work i out!  If it doesn't work out, we still have a few options, so no worries yet :) 

In between, we took several walks along the Thames River and got to see several of the London staples!

Big Ben (and yes the rumors are true... it is cloudy. I hope to one day get the lighting right for these pictures!)

Piccadilly Circus (aka the time square of London)

Buckingham Palace - It was the Queens birthday on Saturday and there was the 'Trooping of the Colors'. Kate made her last appearance before the baby is born. She looked stunning in a pale pink suit!

Borough Market - We loved this place! We tried our first cask cider, our first true 'fish and chips' and sampled food from all over Europe!

During these adventures... a few fun facts that we learned: there is no air conditioning in London Flats, there are heated towel racks, the eggs are not always in the refrigerated part of the grocery, there is wine sold ready to go in a glass, there is no service in pubs, and 'engineering works' means they are working on the tube.  

Last but not least... the reason for the season... Jeff starts work on Monday! We are pretty close to his office right now, so he should have an easy commute this week of about 30 minutes walking. I have 2 interviews set up for Wednesday :) Stayed tuned for updates on the flat and job situation!

PS...Happy Fathers day Dad and all the other wonderful dads out there! We love you!

Getting prepared to meet the royals... part 3!

The day has come... we have packed our bags, visited our family this past weekend and are waiting for our flight.

It was great to see Jeff's Grandmother, Granddaddy and Uncle Arnold in Charlotte. We had a fabulous lunch in Charlotte 131 Main. 

Next on the agenda was seeing my mother, Randy, and Othermomma and Otherdaddy in Winston-Salem. I got to spend all day with my Mom and I am so grateful for it! She is a strong, beautiful woman and I love her to pieces!

The next day I got to celebrate Drew Grubbs's graduation! He is off to be join the wolfpack next Fall and I wish him all the best. So glad Mimmie and Granddaddy were there to help celebrate as well! It was great to see them before Jeff and I embark on our big adventure!

I got an extra bonus at the graduation party and saw my dad! I got to see him a week or two ago at a Mud Cats game in Five County Stadium, but it was great to see him again before I left.

To wrap up the visits, we strategically planned out our last meals in the USA. We narrowed down what we thought we would miss the most.... and the winners were Chipotle, Mexican (La Cocina), and my beloved Chick-a-fila!

And we are off to London :) 

Getting prepared to meet the royals... part 2

We are now less than 1 week away from leaving home.... a lot has happened in the last few days. We both had our last day at work, had an awesome pool party with friends, moved out of our town home and in with Jeff's mom, and sold the last car!

Nothing to exciting about the last day of work... I am truly thankful for the experience that I have had over the last year and know that I have growth both personally and professionally. Thank you so much!

The pool party was AWESOME! Thanks to everyone that was able to make out! We had lots to celebrate with Jeff's Birthday, our move to London, and our recent engagement! There was plenty of food eaten, beer and sangria drank, sunshine soaked in, back flips into the pool and corn hole games played! So glad my sister, Julie, could make it up to Raleigh and help me capture some of these memories! Here are a few of my favorite ones...

The boys playing some corn hole... 

and the girls kicking the boys butts!!! 

Hanging out by the pool!

 

With our good friends Alex and Kristen!

Cassie came to visit!!! 

Love you Julie! 

Last but not least... Jeff playing peek-a-boo behind me and being sweet right before he threw us in the pool!!!!! 

After resting up from the party... we moved a few days later. We had 2 movers to help but it was still a lot of stuff to move and took all day. We are still in the process of getting things somewhat organized so we can find heads from tails when we get back... I am still holding my breath on this one! haha 

SOOO very thankful to Phyllis for letting us stay with her this last week and letting us keep our stuff here. It is a huge relief to be able to leave it somewhere safe so we don't have to worry about it.

Last but not least... we sold Jeff's car! It was a last minute hit on craigslist and it came in strong :) Just a few more things to check off the list now... getting the flights booked and seeing our wonderful grandparents and my mom! We are unbelievably blessed to have all 4 grandma's and 3 grandpa's to see before we jump across the pond!!! 

Getting prepared to meet the royals...part 1

After 6 months of traveling to PA, our dream to go somewhere new and different started to become real when Jeff got the offer for a position at PwC London! The date was tentatively set for late spring/early summer... over the course of many emails and calls it was settled on June 17, 2013.

It seems like yesterday the date was finalized... but in reality it was about 4 weeks ago and we are leaving in 1 weeks! Needless to say the to-do-list is still large and we have a calendar to keep us on track these last few weeks. So far we have crossed off the following: selling my honda, shipping our clothes to London, seeing some of my family (BIG thanks to my cousins Asya and Lauren for making it happen!!!), and getting the house ready for our roommate, Will, to take over the soon to be best bachelor pad in Raleigh! Here is a pic from my surprise party for our engagement and going away party! It was soooo great to see everyone!

Love the fam!!!

          (We missed you Carley, Brian, and Julie!!!)

The food was delicious! We had the works... wedge salads, fruit tray, cake pops, and chicken salad sandwichs!

There are still things left to do to meet Kate and William... but we are getting closer every day!