One year!

I cannot believe that it has been one year already. One year ago today, Andrew and I got off the plane and stepped onto British soil (or concrete, rather) for the first time. It’s really gone by so quickly.

To celebrate, I’m going to give you a quick recap over our first year in London…

Homes: two
Chelsea Bridge Wharf (six months)
Fulham (six months)

Trips: eight (counting Italy as one trip)
Dublin – October 2006 (one week)
Birmingham / Cullman, Alabama – December 2006 and January 2007
Bruges, Belgium – January 2007 (weekend with the Beards and the Noris)
Amsterdam, Netherlands – March 2007 (weekend with the Triefenbachs and Kevin Mitchell and friends)
Venice, Italy – May 2007 (three days with Andrew’s parents)
Florence, Italy – May 2007 (two days with Andrew’s parents)
Rome, Italy – June 2007 (four days with Andrew’s parents)
Paris, France – July 2007 (weekend)
Birmingham / Cullman, Alabama – August 2007 (Andrew, one week; Kel, weekend)
Cairo, Egypt – August 2007 (weekend)
Birmingham, Alabama – September 2007 (just Andrew, weekend)

Andrew’s business travels: eight countries, countless trips…
Paris, France
Düsseldorf, Germany
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Miami, Florida
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Cairo, Egypt
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
Atlanta, Georgia

New friends: Too many to name!
At least fifty

Shows we've seen: four (McD, you'll kill me because we really haven't taken enough advantage of this!)
Les Miserables (with Copelands from Dothan, Alabama)
Comedy show in Clapham (with Noris, Wysss, and Katy)
Comedy show in Camden (Kel with the Wysss and friends and Noris)
Fiddler on the Roof

Clubs started: two
London Ladies Bookclub
London Chapter of the University of Alabama Alumni Association

Doctors visits: approximately six, but none serious (knock on wood!)
Andrew’s hand from playing football – November 2006
I cut my finger slicing cheese – January 2007
Hadley’s sickness after eating snow – February 2007
Andrew’s cold – March 2007
Kelly’s hay fever – May and June 2007
Andrew’s travelers' sickness – September 2007

Mom's birthdays missed: TWO!
Yes, we both missed our mothers' birthdays this year... :(

Special day trips: seven (I’m probably forgetting some.)
Chelsea football game – November 2007 (with Andrew’s coworker, Nigel)
High tea with the girls in London – January 2007 (Kel with Beth Nori, Katy Triefenbach, and Jill Beard)
Canterbury, England – February 2007 (with the Beards)
“I’m not a plastic bag!” hunt – March 2007 (Kel with Beth Nori and Geo Wyss)
England cricket game – July 2007 (with Andrew’s coworker, Nigel)
Bomb threatened day at the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf – August 2007 (Kel with the Triefenbachs) NEVER GO THERE!!!
Hever Castle in Kent – September 2007 (Kel with the Bookclub)

Job interviews: too many!
Willis Insurance (2)
VMA Group (recruitment agency)
Nestlé (2)
Hudson (recruitment agency (2)
JFL (recruitment agency)
Inspired Selection (recruitment agency)
ITV
British Airways Authorities
Direct Line Insurance
The Law Society of England and Wales

Visitors: four (not counting those who didn’t come to London) PLEASE COME SEE US SOON!
Kip and Erica Copeland from Dothan, Alabama – October 2006
Kip and Erica Copeland from Dothan, Alabama – December 2006
Jodi Caughron from Birmingham, Alabama in Amsterdam, Netherlands – March 2007
Michelle Kiel from Birmingham, Alabama – April 2007
Andrew’s parents from Birmingham, Alabama in Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy – May and June 2007
Tommy Cotton and Adelle from Birmingham, Alabama – June 2007
Misty and Mark Sable from Houston, Texas – July 2007

Transport for London tube strikes: one (MISERABLE!)
September 2007

I just want to let everyone know how much we’ve appreciated everyone’s love, support, and understanding throughout the past year. Being here has been a truly amazing experience. Almost every day, as I’m riding the tube to work and walking past Temple Church and Dickens’s Essex Street and the Royal Courts of Justice, I still look around in awe, wondering how a little girl from Cullman, Alabama, ended up here. Andrew and I, while wandering together on one of our weekend trips or doing something really fun here in London, will still stop and say to one another, “What an amazing life we lead!” It’s still a little unbelievable to us that we’ve ended up here and are doing what we’re doing and seeing what we’re seeing.

I do hope that in the next year, many of you will come to London and experience it with us!

And on that note, our plans:

Trips: five on the agenda through the end of the year!
Birmingham, Alabama – October 2007 (just Kel, weekend)
Florence, Italy – October 2007 (weekend with Kel’s parents)
Amsterdam, Netherlands – October and November 2007 (Andrew for work every week)
Barcelona, Spain – November 2007 (Andrew, week for work; Kel, weekend)
Birmingham, Alabama – December 2007 (Merry Christmas!!)

Shows: three that we know of so far!The Woman in Black (play) - September 2007
Ray La Montagne (concert) - November 2007
Mary Poppins (musical) - November 2007

Cheers, y'all!