Hiya Everyone,
My sincerest apologies for my month long absence from the blogosphere. We got back to London a week ago yesterday from our incredibly fun but exhausting 2 weeks in the States. It seems as though my temporary retirement has enabled the Sr. Director to multiply my household obligations and I am more busy now than when I was working full time. This is definitely a case of Taxation without Representation. Ironically, that was the motto used by the original American colonies when they revolted against the British empire!!
It was so great to be back in the States. We spent the first couple of days in Fondy hanging out with the Berenz and Mongin clan and we were so lucky to get some quality time with Max. We took him shopping with us one day as you can see from his modeling photo below!! My intention was to have a much easier first night than when I arrived last summer in Wisconsin, but we all know that is not really in my DNA. After a mind-blowing pizza experience at Joe's Fox Hut, we took it to Main Street for a night of shenanigans. I have to give a shout out to the "Outlaws." Chad, Shawna, Jobina, Cathy, and I took the family down in a skeeball tourney at Googles. It was a devastating blow, and they are still feeling their defeat today. The night does get a little hazy after that (thanks to the Claymakers), but I do recall Chad, Joe, and I's WWE showdown in Chad's basement at about 3am. In fact, my tailbone finally does not hurt when I sit down. On Sunday, we had a Packer party at the Mongin's house with all of the finest of Cathy's tailgating delicacies. We bummed around on Monday with Max and then Senior, Cath, Ann and I had a delicious steak dinner at home on Monday night. Before we knew it, Thursday had arrived and we were all preparing to head to Kohler for the wedding festivities. I do have to mention that Chad and I out outdueled Senior and Junior on the golf course on Thursday morning. They thought that they were untouchable, so it was a sweet sweet victory. What an amazing wedding that Jeff and Jobina had planned. It had only been in the making for 16 years to the day:) They got married in a small clearing near the American Club in Kohler overlooking the Sheboygan River. It was a pristine Fall day and the leaves were beautiful. They said their vows in front of about 30 people and had an awesome sit down dinner in a quaint log cabin nestled back in the woods. They were a stunning bride and groom and the day was perfect. I was finally introduced to the renowned "Uncle Gary," so that was a real treat as well. After the wedding and saying our goodbyes to the newlyweds as they departed for Jamaica, the rest of us headed to Sheboygan to stay at Blue Harbour. Jeff and Cathy rented a great condo for all of us on Lake Michigan. It was a lovely way to wrap up our time in Wisconsin. BTW, I never thought the day would come, but Tom Berenz confessed his love for the Republican party;)!!!!
The 2nd week of our trip took us to Dallas for our house hunting adventure. Ann has spent a little time there for work, but basically, we are complete newbies to the city. We luckily have some great resources at our disposal through Ann's company and a few connections there that were instrumental in helping us plan. We stayed at a beautiful hotel in uptown called The Stoneleigh. It is in a fantastic location near McKinney Ave, which is a cool street with restaurants, bars and a free trolley that runs end to end. On Sunday afternoon, we walked a good portion of McKinney Ave, and then got in the car and drove out to an area called Lakewood that we had heard a lot about. We had an incredible Tex-Mex dinner that night at a restaurant called La Duni near the Knox/Henderson area, very close to SMU's campus in Highland Park. We shared a spicy chorizo queso app and then both had enchiladas. There is a good possibility that I might turn into a Mexican after living in Dallas because that is how much I love Mexican food and how often that I will be consuming it. Monday was a work day for Ann and I had some interviews at JCP's head offices in Plano. Monday night, we had another great dinner at a restaurant in Uptown called Ocean Prime. Instead of serving bread, they serve white truffle and parmesan popcorn. This stuff was like crack. Tuesday was the first of 2 days that we spent with a relocation agent. Even though our desire is to probably live in a more established neighborhood in the city, we were interested in seeing what kind of homes you could get for your money in the burbs. We got a pretty thorough tour of Plano, Frisco, and McKinney, which are all north of the city. We officially got our welcome to the land of strip malls. This is true for all of Dallas. Obviously, we are a little bit skewed at this point since we live in the heart of London and don't own a car. We walk everywhere, including the grocery store, so this was somewhat of a shock to our system!! It was great though to see what is possible in the land of suburbia. Tuesday night, we had dinner with Ann's boss and his wife. They chose this quaint little French restaurant called Rise, coincidentally in a strip mall, that served savory and sweet soufflés. Ann had a crab meat soufflé and I had a southwest chicken soufflé and then we shared their special pumpkin soufflé for dessert. These soufflés are so light and delicious. It will definitely be one of our favorites. Wednesday, we spent the 2nd day with the relo agent. This day was dedicated to neighborhoods and homes in the actual city of Dallas. While we did not necessarily find any homes that wowed us, we discovered some fantastic neighborhoods where we can now focus our search. On Thursday, my parents flew down to Dallas to see us. It had been a full year since we had seen them. The 4 of us had such a blast. Thursday night, we had reservations at a restaurant called Stephan Pyles. It was s southwestern menu, and while I highly enjoyed out little gazpacho sampler platter, the rest of the dinner was just ok. Friday, we had a great lunch at Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village(the brisket tacos were sick!!) and then drove through some of the neighborhoods that we had targeted potential houses. Friday night, we had an amazing dining experience at a restaurant called Mansion on Turtle Creek. This place is so unique and the food was spectacular. We all split the Dover Sole, and it was absolutely brilliant. Saturday, we toured a few more neighborhoods and also drove through downtown, past Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository. Saturday night, we had reservations at a steak house called Al Biernat's. While the steak was absolutely incredible, the ambience was just ok and paled in comparison to our experience on Friday evening. My dry aged New york Strip Steak just melted in my mouth though. We said goodbye to my parents on Sunday morning as they headed back to St. Louis, and we started our lengthy journey back to London.
After being in Dallas, we both recognized and discussed that our transition back might be a bit harder than we have anticipated. We have such a unique lifestyle here in the fact that we can walk everywhere and we have so many cultures, resources, and cuisines at our fingertips. We are absolutely thrilled about Dallas, but it will be a change. We are excited for the next challenge though and are so looking forward to getting settled in a house, meeting hopefully some great people, discovering a new city, and starting the next phase of our life.
I guess that is about it. Ann has been working like crazy the last week. Fortunately or unfortunately, we had tickets to the Rams v Patriots game at Wembley on Sunday night. Despite the Rams getting completely killed, we still had an awesome time and it was a great experience to see a NFL game here. We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend ahead in London before we embark on our crazy last 5 weeks as 2 yanks in London. We hope that everyone is doing well. For those on the East Coast, we hope that you have not been badly affected by Sandy and we just want to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween.
Cheers
Kevin
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