if you missed the (very extensive) part one recap of my year, i shared everything up until our move to london. it is wild to see it all laid out… i have had a crazy year but the best part was putting all of our possessions in the attic and moving to london (explore all my london posts here).
we landed at heathrow on the morning september 9th. our flight was early even though we had to RUN through the boston airport. we were without phones, so i don’t have a lot of photos from this time. our sweet friend milla picked us up from the airport with all of our stuff and kept us company while we waited for check-in. our relocation service put us up in a short term rental in notting hill while we looked for our flat.
on september 11th, we viewed 15 apartments in one day and fell in love with this little gem. located between camden & primrose hill, we quickly put an offer on it. it has some downsides: very beige, no closets, carpet, less than ideal furniture. but it had some real upsides: great kitchen, next to the park, pretty light. we moved in the following monday. once we had an address, we slowly set up our utilities & got a bank account. it took us three weeks to get bank accounts, phones, etc. things like that move more slowly over here – people take their time to get back to you which is fine, just be warned. in the meantime, we went to yumchaa on parkway every day for internet & lemon drizzle cake.
i had fun setting up our new apartment (still ongoing!) but you can see (the before photos) that it was pretty beige! milla drove us to ikea to get our essentials (she is an angel saint – would have been impossible on the tube!). i found a vintage market in highgate where i scored some amazing pieces. i’m hoping to pick up some things in paris too.
i spent october exploring the neighborhood, finding my grocery store (morrison’s over sainsbury’s), ordering stuff from argos, going in for weekly rehearsals at a local piano store.
at the end of october my mom came to visit – her first journey out of america. we had a big time – seeing a play, eating the roast chicken at hix (we did this summer of 2011 for our anniversary), taking her to the engineer for dinner, visiting the harry potter studio tours and the churchill war rooms. it was fun for me to be a tourist with her – and of course, she also did sweet mom things for me too cause she is the best.
the opportunity arose for me to take a year-long songwriting course with the london song company. i joined this group of 10 and have been so inspired and challenged by this experience. i will be sharing more about this next year, but i am gaining valuable skills and working with very creative and talented people. this has been such a wonderful journey so far.
in november, i redesigned my blog on my own – that was a learning experience! thanks youtube! i also geared up for thanksgiving and having one of my best friends come visit. i decided to make everything in advance and have lots of whiskey on tap. we had such a fun thanksgiving. allison’s fiance surprised her with tickets to wicked, so i was giddy to see it again.
as soon as december rolled around, the city was decorated for christmas – it was beautiful. my favorite lights were on carnaby street & marylebone high street this year. will and i went down to see the big christmas tree at haymarket near london bridge – it was freezing but very atmospheric. we ended up eating at a little pub in the back of gabriel’s wharf after, a really fun night.
we decorated simply for christmas this year – a wreath from the grocery store and paper chains from melrose & morgan. they have the lyrics to “deck the halls” written on them in gold leaf. gold leaf letterpress in all caps futura – i’m in love.
i think my highlight was the visit from bill & mary ellen, my brother and sister-in-law. we had such a big time (they left on christmas eve). we saw the sights of course, but we also took midday breaks for beers and long chats. we caught up without any distractions. we stayed up late telling stories and being silly. gah. i love my big brother. he’s the best.
i think christmas is the perfect time to visit london. the city clears out a few days before but everything picks back up in no time. you can see the sights without the crowds and everything twinkles. all the pubs have funny kitschy decorations and they serve mulled wine on every corner. it is the most magical place and i can’t believe i live here.
the year has flown by! i am so thankful for all the wonderful experiences and am learning so much by living abroad. i can’t believe we’re already one semester in. thanks for following along with me here and i hope you continue to stop by.
we are ending 2012 in paris!!! i am beyond excited to finally visit the city of lights! we are meeting bill & mary ellen there… so the brother/sister fun continues. as always, i will be instagramming our fun! lots of love! xoxo
NICE!!!!!
A very well done recapitulation!
Lovely!