Its been WAY too long!

Hello All

Where to start really so much has happened in the past few weeks!!!!

I will start with the holidays. It was really bittersweet not to be home for Christmas this year. We were so thankful that our wonderful family and friends sent us gifts that we were able to open on Christmas morning. We got up, made some coffee, and opened our presents...just the two of us :) It was a lot of fun! I then made us the Tant Family traditional breakfast, English style of course. We always make breakfast sandwiches (known as Mary McMuffins as my mom's name is Mary) with English muffins (which don't exist in England by the way), sausage/bacon, egg, cheese, etc. We modified this a bit and used crumpets :) We then got ready and road our bikes across the common (aka the park) to our friends house, Chad & Alicia. They are also from America, Chad is originally from Iowa and Alicia from Missouri but both call Chicago home now. Alicia's parents were in town for Christmas so they joined us as well as our Aussie friends Danielle and Declan. We spent the entire day there which included a five course meal, gifts, and games. It really was so much fun and we were so thankful for such a special day that we will never forget.

Over the remainder of our time off we just sort of laid low which was nice. London gets quiet over the holidays since I think most people head out of the city for the holidays. We took a day trip to Windsor Castle which was really fun! We decided that the royal family may have a bit of money to spend, what credit crunch??? We spent New Years Eve with our Aussie friends, Danielle and Dec, Chad & Alicia, and some of their other Aussie/Kiwi/English friends. I point that out because that night I was sort of sitting there listening to them all talk and I just thought how cool it was to be in a room with people that are from all parts of the world. We are all so much alike, no matter where we are from, with the exception of how we sound and some of the terms we use :) (I learned today after repeating the word bangs to one of my male co-workers about 6 times that bangs are called fringes, ummm ok).

Back to work, busy season has begun. Which means long hours, deadlines, and less fun most likely :) I GUESS that is why we came her though, to work...right? Haha, we are both really thankful of the opportunities we are getting here as they have far exceeded our expectations.

Chris is in the process of training for the Etap, which is a stage of the tour de France that amateurs are able to ride about a week before the actual tour riders go on this stage. He is very excited, but very nervous for this 100 mile, up mountain, ride in France. I am proud of him, what an amazing accomplishment. Wow! I have finally broken down and joined the gym. Enough is enough people, I cannot eat burgers and chips and drink beer and expect to lose weight :) Haha! I have fortunately been able to find a gym group of gals and we went a few times together this week which really helps. Kinda like my SD PwC ladies that I miss more than they know!

We are still having a great time, each day still a new adventure. The biggest adventure now is surviving the cold. The weather here isn't as bad as I thought, but boy has it been REALLY cold lately (even the Brits say this is abnormally cold). Still a novelty to us Californians really, but I think it will be nice when the cold passes.

We are so excited that our best friends, Emily & Christian, scheduled their trip to come and visit us this July. We cannot wait to share our home away from home with them. Please everyone, come visit!!!

Many trips are in the works, what do you do when you want to visit every great country and city in Europe? Start throwing darts at them and thats how you choose :) We will keep you all updated on our travels of course!

My favorite older sister is about to give birth to my niece, Aven Marie. This couldn't be a more bittersweet time. My heart aches knowing I cannot be there (tears) but I am sooo excited for Rebecca, Darrell, and my buddy (Ethan) to have a new girl in the family. Equality people!!! Dad will never know what that is like, but I think he prefers it that way ;) His girls can be tougher than guys anyway, right dad?

Anyway, I need to get read to meet Chris out in the city. We are going to an Austrian restaurant tonight with some friends of Chris' from back home and some other Londoners.

I love you all so very much and think of you often. Drop us a line!

XO,

Ang