1st Weekend Back In London

Yen and I just got back to London after resting it up in Portland for six and 14 weeks respectively. Anh Minh happened to be in London from Hamburg, Germany for work this weekend and we met up with him and his friends for dinner at the Oxo Tower, a Harvey Nichols' restaurant on the South Bank with one of the best views of the Thames.

And if anyone knows Anh Minh, the night never stops at dinner... We headed to Cargo in Shoreditch and ran into a girl at the bar with mad b.o.

His friend took us to the "best" fried chicken joint, but he didn't order the chicken. Sketch. It wasn't no Popeyes.

'Cudas

I hadn't been out in Ptown's scene for yeeears!... or so it seems :) but I owed Charlie this one.

Me, Charlie & his pal Jenny

Michael, Chi Quan, & (another) Yen

Holiday Party at the Nines

New Years Eve 2008

New Years Eve this year brought us to Allison & Tommy's house for dinner...

... and a party at Bo, hosted by Charlie.

Our 1st Blog Entry

Michael and I had been talking about starting a blog for ages!!!.. but we both didn't know where to start (and were mainly too lazy). We've been fortunate enough to travel many places together in the last 2 years and wanted to a way to document it all... we're a bit behind :) but better now then never! We'll back-track and blog about past trips and experiences now and then, but in the meantime, let's start with...

Our 1st "official" Christmas together!
(Last Christmas, Michael was in NYC while I was down-under with Tram :)

Up until this point, I'd been living in London for 8 months, since moving from New York in April... yes, all by my lonesome self! Michael stayed behind in New York to finish his work at Marsh, but even as he arrived in London last September to meet me for our vacation (we went to Lisbon, Barcelona, and Ibiza - so much fun!!!!), complications at border control led to his deportation when he tried to come back into the UK after our holiday. As he headed back to Portland to wait for his UK work permit to approve, I was alone again in London for yet another 9 weeks. My duration thus far in London was the longest time I'd ever been away from family or friends, so you can imagine how excited I was to go home for Christmas!

Portland was hit with the biggest snow storm I had ever seen - but luckily, not until the day after I flew in (I would have had a mental breakdown had I been stuck at SFO for any amount of time longer than the planned layover :) but as I landed, I was the happiest (and luckiest) girl in the world that week!.. snowed-in a house full of food, my parents, and Michael!

My dad was so bored, he built a family of snowmen (and women - with boobs :)

It was my 1st Christmas with Michael's family too - now they are a fun bunch!

Which is where we got the title for our blog... no matter where you go in life, what you experience, or who you meet... home is always where the heart is.