London 2014

When I got back from my last trip to New York, I unpacked and repacked my suitcase in between many loads of laundry, and the very next day I got on another plane to head across the pond. I go to London one week every year (also for work) and this time Bo tagged along (for fun). He went to London a few times when he was younger so we've both done most of the touristy stuff, so it was nice to just enjoy the city, especially since it was our first time there together.

We took a red-eye flight and got into London on a Sunday morning. Took the train to our hotel, changed our clothes, and went straight to Hurlingham Park to go to our very first polo match. So posh, we are.  

There were several matches throughout the day, though we never really picked up on the sport. Polo is basically a big, fancy tailgate. Everyone gets really dressed up and really drunk and sometimes watches a little polo. We started our day off with a pitcher of Pimm's, which was a terrific idea after a red-eye, no?

Regardless of how little we actually know about polo, it was always easy to know when they scored...

During halftime, they let all the fans go out on the field and replace the divots, which is called "treading in". It was kinda cool, but a little underwhelming - if only Richard Gere had been there it would be been a little more exciting ;)

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The rest of the week was much less interesting. Lots of work meetings for me, and lots of relaxation for Bo. We stayed at the Grosvenor House, right across the street from Hyde Park. It was a great location for morning runs in the park, and it took me about 15 minutes on the tube to get to my office, so much better than my normal daily commute in Atlanta traffic. It was also a convenient location for Bo since he did a little sightseeing and mostly spent time reading in the park and enjoying the beautiful weather. I've really lucked out - in the four times I've been to London it's really only rained for a total of one hour. Blue skies and mid-60s, really just perfect.

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Throughout the week we enjoyed some very scenic meals...

Sunset dinner over the River Thames near Putney Bridge

Lunch with a view from Duck & Waffle

Dinner with a view from Smiths of Smithfield

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Thursday of that week was the opening night of the World Cup. Neither of us really like soccer (as they call it, football or "footie"), but we ventured out to the local pubs to enjoy a few pints and be a part of the excitement. England wasn't playing for another few days (we just missed them!), but the pubs were crowded and everyone was really into it. I almost cared :) 

That pretty much wraps up our time in London and kicks off our weekend...once my work week was over, we headed to Brussels for the weekend! 
 

New York, New York

I don't really talk about work here on the blog because I'm fairly certain it would bore you all to tears. But apparently this has led a lot of you to think that all we do is travel the world and never go to work. Ha! I wish :) Unfortunately we still have not won the lottery and we are not aware of any trust funds (dare to dream!), so we most definitely have to work to be able to vacation the way we do! And we actually do quite a bit of traveling for work as well - which is how we are able to earn all the Delta Skymiles and Marriott points we need to be able to go on said vacations. Bo is still steadily traveling for his clients, and my work travel has especially picked up over the past six months since the company I work for recently bought the New York Stock Exchange (it still sounds crazy to say that!). I've gone up to New York City several times now and have certainly made the most of it.

My favorite part of being in the big apple was getting to see these ladies!!

When it was finally warm enough outside, Megan and I went for a run on a trail near my hotel that goes right along the Hudson and up to her neighborhood. It's now my regular route whenever I'm up there.

After our run, Megan took me through her neighborhood and we stopped by her apartment. West Village is such a cute area, and of course we had to stop by Magnolia Bakery and get a little dessert before dinner!

Thankfully I also have some really great co-workers to hang out with when we travel, so we did some exploring of our own. The Yankees were in town one week so the auditors took us all to a game one night - it sure is nice to be on the other side of that now! :)  And I will admit we accidentally caught ourselves cheering for the Yankees when one guy hit a homerun. Oops, sorry Braves. The new stadium was pretty nice, though I never went to the old one. Hoping to make it to a Mets game during a future trip, I've heard their stadium is even nicer.

Another night we had dinner at Bobby Van's, which is in the old JP Morgan antique bank vaults. The dining room is lined with bronze deposit boxes and we even got to open up the big vault which was so massive and heavy that it took 2-3 of us just to open the door.

Bobby Van's is right across the street from our office, and it is so pretty all lit up at night!

The office is actually a really old building and we're working on some major renovations - with the exception of the executive floor. The board room is enormous! I was in complete awe.  The ceiling is stained glass, all the trim is real gold, and the clock behind me in the picture below is over 200 years old. I've never seen another board room that comes close in comparison.

A few times I've been able to go down to the trading floor to watch the opening bell. There is a lot of energy on the floor - especially watching Cramer live - though I'm sure it's nothing like it was back in the day, since so much is electronic now. The most exciting day I've seen so far was when the owners and jockey for California Chrome rang the bell in honor of the Belmont Stakes the following weekend. They were all so excited! Sadly they ended up losing the Belmont, so no triple crown - better luck next year.

It sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is, but working on NYSE has definitely been one of the more exciting (and challenging) projects at work lately. I'll be going back next month so those of you in New York City, let me know if you want to hang out!! :)

Spring Things

For the first time in many years, we didn't have any spring weddings so we were in town almost all of spring and it was pretty awesome. We took advantage of it and spent most of our time just hanging out at home or with friends, and we also finally got to check off a few things that have been on our Atlanta bucket list for far too long.

Soon after we got back from Vietnam, we celebrated our 14 year dating anniversary at 4th & Swift. Delicious food and a great cocktail menu!

Bo's parents took us to the Masters, which was my very first golf tournament. Their friends gave us all member guest passes so we got the full treatment. I actually don't even like golf at all, but I have to say I loved this tournament and I'm glad I finally went. It's much more interesting in person and getting to walk around enjoying the sunshine, especially with cheap beer and pimento cheese sandwiches. Bo has been several times before when Augusta National used to be his client and he even got to play the course a few years ago which is a pretty big deal. Unfortunately no phones or cameras are allowed during the tournament, so we might have to go back next year for a practice round so I can take some pictures :)

Kim's boyfriend Evan recently moved to Atlanta (yay!) and we all went out to Churchill Grounds, a local jazz club that we've been wanting to go to for a while. Front row seats and great company made for a wonderful double date night :)

Every year since we moved here, Shawn has invited us to Atlanta Steeplechase and we've been out of town for a wedding every single year. Of course the year we are here, he was out of town - his parents still gave us tickets so we went with a few other friends. Another first for me, having never been to a horse race.

We celebrated Easter twice this year, since most of our friends were with their families on Easter Sunday they all came over the following weekend. So for the first time ever, Bo and I had Easter on our own. I also finally made my mom's bunny cake for our friends and it was a total hit. Pretty cute and tasty if I do say so myself.

Before our travels picked up again, we celebrated Shara & Chris' engagement party. It was probably the best we've ever been to, even topping our own (which was pretty kick-ass). Looking forward to the wedding next year!

We didn't stay put for too long though - the past six weeks have been a complete whirlwind and we've been all over the place! More to come on that.

Chapel Hill

We kicked off our Christmas vacation by taking a day trip to Chapel Hill to go to the UNC-Davidson basketball game with Dani and Mark. This was my first visit and I had been wanting to go for a long time, so I jumped at the opportunity when they mentioned it. Mark went to Davidson so we all had a friendly rivalry for the day, since Bo and I consider ourselves loose affiliates of UNC (Bo's dad and his sister Charlotte and her husband Doug all went to school there)

We met at Top of the Hill for lunch, which was a really awesome rooftop restaurant and brewery. It was on the far end of campus, so we walked through most of campus to get to Dean Dome. I have to say it was the prettiest campus I've ever visited, even in the dead of winter. I can only imagine how pretty it is during spring or fall! Bo has been there several times when he was younger, and we would love to go back again.

 

 

 

  

 

 


It was such a great game, close the entire time, and UNC won 97-85 in overtime. Go heels!  

Big thank you to Dani and Mark for planning such a fun day! Hope to visit you guys again soon :)