Hiya Everyone,
I was giving the Sr. Director time to perhaps blog about her trip back to the States, but she has been pretty busy watching me wait on her since she got back last week, so I thought that I better say hello and give you a few updates;) She had a fantastic trip back across the pond. She was so excited to hold Max for the first time and spend some quality time with her family and friends. As I shared in the last blog, that Fondy has an ability to put quite the smile on those far away faces. It was so nice to have her come home though. She obviously travels quite a bit for work over here, but 2 weeks is a pretty long time. I would love to regale you with my dazzling stories of bachelor debauchery, but I am afraid my highlight was getting hit on by a 50+ year old woman in a pub. I still have not figured out if I should be flattered or dejected. I guess I now look old enough to be considered fair game for the Cougar + demographic:) It must be the distinguished grey hair.
Since Ann has more upcoming travel, I planned a small getaway for us last Saturday. We took the train from London out to a small fishing village on the East Coast of Kent called Ramsgate. It was a cool seaside town with quite a diverse mix of people and restaurants. There was not too much to see there, which was great with us, as we were perfectly content to pub hop and satiate our palettes with local cuisine. We stayed at a little B&B called the Royal Harbour Hotel. If you are a traveller, you know it is always a surprise with what you might find at a B&B, but we ended up pretty lucky. They served a full English breakfast on Sunday morning that was outstanding. Anyway, we had a fantastic time on our pub crawl on Saturday and found a magnificent little restaurant called Age & Sons. After dinner, we discovered a live band and enjoyed some really good music. It was a great night away from the hustle of London.
It has been a long week at work this week, so I am thrilled that it is Friday. We were treated with an unbelievable day yesterday. It was 15 degrees/60 degrees and sunny. I went running last night in Hyde Park in a t-shirt and shorts. Spring is definitely in the air. Ann has been in Paris since Wednesday and is returning late this afternoon, so we have a weekend here in London. She flies back to Dallas on Monday for 8 days, so I suppose I will be spit shining her leather boots, hat, and polishing her "W" belt buckle!!!
Speaking of Spring, pitchers and catchers reported this week and position players report today. I am not sure what the season holds for the rebuilding Defending Champions, but win or lose, Cardinals season is almost here!!!! Ryan Braun should consider himself incredibly lucky. He must have been wearing OJ's gloves in court this week. Go Cards:)
One final note.....My sister Kelly is going to reach a milestone on Sunday. Back when I was a kid, 1972 did not seem that long ago, but 40 years later, it is now reviewed in Modern History textbooks in classrooms across the world. Kelly, your youth is now fully in the rearview mirror. The good news is that it is all down hill from here. It is a steady slope towards the loss of hearing and eyesight, switching from the current events section to the obituaries to see what your friends are doing on the weekends, losing your teeth in a juicy steak, and the excitement of waking up to your pill box in the morning without hopefully to much leakage in your depends. Things on your body are going to start hanging a little bit lower, but don't worry, you will make up for that with those sweet blue blockers on your eyes while you are combing the beach with your metal detector. I know that I will pay for this dearly in 16 years when I turn 40, but know that I will be thinking about you all weekend and wish that I was there with you. Happy Birthday Kelly. We can't wait to celebrate with you when you land in London in 3 weeks!!!
Maldives
Friday, 24 February 2012
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Home
Hi Everyone,
I could not have found a more befitting title for the blog this week than the one I have chosen. It is so relevant to recent conversations, jokes, and events. And so it begins........
We had a fantastic last weekend before Ann began her February of multiple transatlantic crossings. Friday night, we had dinner at The Belvedere in Holland Park. The restaurant was the ballroom of a Jacobean Style mansion in the 17th century. It is beautiful, the food was amazing and we had live piano music. Coincidentally, the conversation turned towards where our next HOME is going to be after London. It was certainly not the first, but since Ann is meeting with her boss this week in Dallas and potentially talking about her post London career, it was quite timely. We have now made 2 moves for our careers, one to Minneapolis for my position with Target, and this one to London for Ann's job at MGI. It is no big secret that we put kids on hold to move abroad, but now the bigger question is, should the next move again be for one or both of our careers or, do we pick a place that we want to call HOME and let our careers work themselves out? It is a little bit more complicated than that, but essentially, that is the "To Be or Not To Be." Sadly, I have no decision to report, although this week could get us a bit closer. I can share that, career or not, Ann just wants to be within walking distance of Fond du Lac!!! Alright, that is perhaps a gross exaggeration, but I do love to tease her about it.
Speaking of Fondy, Saturday brought another one of its international descendants to London for a visit. Don't ever tell Grandma Diener that Fondy has not gone global because she has 2 grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and a soon to be great-grandchild in Italy, another grandchild and 2 great-grandchildren in Sweden, and little Annie in London. Ann's cousin Derek, who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, came to spend 2 nights with us before a conference in London this week. The three of us had so much fun. Saturday, we incorporated a little London sightseeing into a good English Ale pub crawl. One of the highlights was a stop at an Irish pub called The Toucan in SOHO. Given the time of the day, it was not out of the ordinary to see a bar full of just guys, but not one of us could fully determine if we were in a gay bar or not. That is not uncommon in SOHO might I add. The best part however, was that the bartender was wearing an Under Armour athletic shirt, not your typical attire for a bartender in an Irish pub. We followed the pub crawl up with a great dinner in Notting Hill and then an English nightcap(another pint) at the Churchill Arms. Sunday, we had a great breakfast at Cafe Phillies near our flat, and then we ventured to a neighbourhood just north of London called Highgate. Highgate was established in Victorian times as a hunting ground outside of London for the Bishop of London, but now it is a very affluent area with Georgian shops, pubs, restaurants, and residences. It is currently or has been a residence of Pierce Brosnan, Sting, George Michael, Annie Lennox, and many others. There were unfortunately no celebrity sightings beyond the 2 royals from Fond Du Lac. We finished Sunday night at a brilliant sushi restaurant called Koi where Derek entertained us by spooning mouthfuls of roe(salmon eggs) into his mouth. That guy will eat anything. To bring the theme back "HOME," it is absolutely a fact that you can take someone out of Fond Du Lac and put them all over the world, but you certainly can't take away the Fond Du Lac. Every story that was told or experience revealed, there was always a direct correlation back to the Foot of the Lake. We decided that one day, for as many Yankee hats that you see in every country around the world, there will be just as many FDL hats being worn.
I am happy to report that Ann made it safely to Dallas on Monday night, and I am just scraping by here as a bachelor in London. It was actually -2 when I left for work this morning, that is celsius, however, but still cold for this softened former Minnesotan. I will certainly keep you updated, as I promised, on my bachelor exploits, and I am sure that you can just picture the smile on Ann's face this Friday when she boards that plane from Dallas to HOME.
Miss you Annie!!!
Sleepless in London;)
Kevin
I could not have found a more befitting title for the blog this week than the one I have chosen. It is so relevant to recent conversations, jokes, and events. And so it begins........
We had a fantastic last weekend before Ann began her February of multiple transatlantic crossings. Friday night, we had dinner at The Belvedere in Holland Park. The restaurant was the ballroom of a Jacobean Style mansion in the 17th century. It is beautiful, the food was amazing and we had live piano music. Coincidentally, the conversation turned towards where our next HOME is going to be after London. It was certainly not the first, but since Ann is meeting with her boss this week in Dallas and potentially talking about her post London career, it was quite timely. We have now made 2 moves for our careers, one to Minneapolis for my position with Target, and this one to London for Ann's job at MGI. It is no big secret that we put kids on hold to move abroad, but now the bigger question is, should the next move again be for one or both of our careers or, do we pick a place that we want to call HOME and let our careers work themselves out? It is a little bit more complicated than that, but essentially, that is the "To Be or Not To Be." Sadly, I have no decision to report, although this week could get us a bit closer. I can share that, career or not, Ann just wants to be within walking distance of Fond du Lac!!! Alright, that is perhaps a gross exaggeration, but I do love to tease her about it.
Speaking of Fondy, Saturday brought another one of its international descendants to London for a visit. Don't ever tell Grandma Diener that Fondy has not gone global because she has 2 grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and a soon to be great-grandchild in Italy, another grandchild and 2 great-grandchildren in Sweden, and little Annie in London. Ann's cousin Derek, who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, came to spend 2 nights with us before a conference in London this week. The three of us had so much fun. Saturday, we incorporated a little London sightseeing into a good English Ale pub crawl. One of the highlights was a stop at an Irish pub called The Toucan in SOHO. Given the time of the day, it was not out of the ordinary to see a bar full of just guys, but not one of us could fully determine if we were in a gay bar or not. That is not uncommon in SOHO might I add. The best part however, was that the bartender was wearing an Under Armour athletic shirt, not your typical attire for a bartender in an Irish pub. We followed the pub crawl up with a great dinner in Notting Hill and then an English nightcap(another pint) at the Churchill Arms. Sunday, we had a great breakfast at Cafe Phillies near our flat, and then we ventured to a neighbourhood just north of London called Highgate. Highgate was established in Victorian times as a hunting ground outside of London for the Bishop of London, but now it is a very affluent area with Georgian shops, pubs, restaurants, and residences. It is currently or has been a residence of Pierce Brosnan, Sting, George Michael, Annie Lennox, and many others. There were unfortunately no celebrity sightings beyond the 2 royals from Fond Du Lac. We finished Sunday night at a brilliant sushi restaurant called Koi where Derek entertained us by spooning mouthfuls of roe(salmon eggs) into his mouth. That guy will eat anything. To bring the theme back "HOME," it is absolutely a fact that you can take someone out of Fond Du Lac and put them all over the world, but you certainly can't take away the Fond Du Lac. Every story that was told or experience revealed, there was always a direct correlation back to the Foot of the Lake. We decided that one day, for as many Yankee hats that you see in every country around the world, there will be just as many FDL hats being worn.
I am happy to report that Ann made it safely to Dallas on Monday night, and I am just scraping by here as a bachelor in London. It was actually -2 when I left for work this morning, that is celsius, however, but still cold for this softened former Minnesotan. I will certainly keep you updated, as I promised, on my bachelor exploits, and I am sure that you can just picture the smile on Ann's face this Friday when she boards that plane from Dallas to HOME.
Miss you Annie!!!
Sleepless in London;)
Kevin
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Long Time No Read
Hiya Blogees,
I know, Christmas was a month ago today, and I have been almost non-existent in the blogosphere. Please accept my sincerest apologies. When I applied for the Senior Director's Administrative Support vacancy in London, I did not realise the extent of the commitment. I have not been able to blog the last month because I have been busy putting food on the table, cleaning our flat, laundering the Senior Director's power suits, scheduling upcoming visitors, planning our future adventures, and organising our social calendar, all the while, finding the future leaders of the world for Apple. If you saw our record earnings release yesterday reporting a net profit of $13B last quarter, I was pretty much solely responsible for that.
We had an amazing 2.5 weeks with Joe when he came to visit over X-mas. There are so many stories and memories, so it would be almost impossible to capture it all in the time that I have, but here is a high level overview:
Dec 22 - Joe arrived in London - good pub dinner at Builders Arms followed by some pints at Prince of Wales, where Ann got a touch bit cheeky with us!!!
Dec 23 - Pizza in Notting Hill followed by a low key night in preparation for X-mas
Dec 24 - X-mas Eve - picked up X-mas Day dinner from Ottolenghi; Afternoon Pub Crawl in Central London - Lamb and Flag, Browns; X-mas Eve Mass at 6pm at Westminster Cathedral(not abbey unfortunately); Pub Crawl in West London - Champion, Churchill Arms
Dec 25 - X-mas Day - presents, Skyping with our families, watching the Queen's X-mas Day address, being over-served on Mimosas, Christmas Vacation - "what a beaut Clark"
Dec 26 - Boxing Day - Movie Day
Dec 27 - Day Trip to Brighton
Dec 28 - Joe in London
Dec 29 - Joe in London; Great dinner at Randa Maroush
Dec 30 - Flew to Basel, Switzerland; caught a train to Colmar, France (what a town, especially at X-mas)
Dec 31 - Train back to Basel; NYE in Basel; Pub Crawl - Annie's Bar....; Fireworks on the Rhine River at Midnight
Jan 1 - Recovery in Basel
Jan 2 - Return to London
Jan 3 - Joe in London
Jan 4 - Ice Skating at Somerset House; dinner at best Mexican restaurant in London (Wajaca)
Jan 5 - Joe in London
Jan 6 - Joe in London
Jan 7 - Joe and I took the House of Parliament Tour; Pub Crawl
Jan 8 - Cirque Du Soleil at Royal Albert Hall - we saw the "Totem" show and it was simply brilliant
Jan 9 - We sent Joe packing
The last couple of weeks in London has been so relaxing for us. We have used this time to refresh and gear up for the busy upcoming months. We have some new trips planned and also some visitors booked in. Ann did make a quick trip to Paris and Rome for work last week, but other than that, it has been quiet and calm here. We are excited to have Ann's cousin Derek, who lives in Sweden, spend this weekend with us. Starting Monday, I am going to have to endure 2 weeks of being a bachelor in London. It will be tough without Ann's direction, but I am confident in my solo skills to survive!!! Ann flies to Dallas for work next week, and then is taking a week off to spend in Wisconsin. I am certainly jealous of her getting to meet Max, spend time with the Berenz clan, and eat Joe's Fox Hut, but all the more reason to look forward to October when I can do all of that when we are there for the big wedding!!! Most concerning, however, is her recurring monologue about the seemingly black hole in her wardrobe. If Wisconsin retail has had a bad start to the first quarter, do not fear, the stimulus is coming.
I suppose that is about all that I have for today. I promise that I will not leave you again for this long. Perhaps, Ann will share some of her travel stories while she is back home in the States. I will surely keep you updated on my bachelorhood as well. It will probably be best to keep track of me in the "Daily Star" as I will be out with Harry, Kate, Will, and Pippa quite a bit.
Cheers
Kevin
I know, Christmas was a month ago today, and I have been almost non-existent in the blogosphere. Please accept my sincerest apologies. When I applied for the Senior Director's Administrative Support vacancy in London, I did not realise the extent of the commitment. I have not been able to blog the last month because I have been busy putting food on the table, cleaning our flat, laundering the Senior Director's power suits, scheduling upcoming visitors, planning our future adventures, and organising our social calendar, all the while, finding the future leaders of the world for Apple. If you saw our record earnings release yesterday reporting a net profit of $13B last quarter, I was pretty much solely responsible for that.
We had an amazing 2.5 weeks with Joe when he came to visit over X-mas. There are so many stories and memories, so it would be almost impossible to capture it all in the time that I have, but here is a high level overview:
Dec 22 - Joe arrived in London - good pub dinner at Builders Arms followed by some pints at Prince of Wales, where Ann got a touch bit cheeky with us!!!
Dec 23 - Pizza in Notting Hill followed by a low key night in preparation for X-mas
Dec 24 - X-mas Eve - picked up X-mas Day dinner from Ottolenghi; Afternoon Pub Crawl in Central London - Lamb and Flag, Browns; X-mas Eve Mass at 6pm at Westminster Cathedral(not abbey unfortunately); Pub Crawl in West London - Champion, Churchill Arms
Dec 25 - X-mas Day - presents, Skyping with our families, watching the Queen's X-mas Day address, being over-served on Mimosas, Christmas Vacation - "what a beaut Clark"
Dec 26 - Boxing Day - Movie Day
Dec 27 - Day Trip to Brighton
Dec 28 - Joe in London
Dec 29 - Joe in London; Great dinner at Randa Maroush
Dec 30 - Flew to Basel, Switzerland; caught a train to Colmar, France (what a town, especially at X-mas)
Dec 31 - Train back to Basel; NYE in Basel; Pub Crawl - Annie's Bar....; Fireworks on the Rhine River at Midnight
Jan 1 - Recovery in Basel
Jan 2 - Return to London
Jan 3 - Joe in London
Jan 4 - Ice Skating at Somerset House; dinner at best Mexican restaurant in London (Wajaca)
Jan 5 - Joe in London
Jan 6 - Joe in London
Jan 7 - Joe and I took the House of Parliament Tour; Pub Crawl
Jan 8 - Cirque Du Soleil at Royal Albert Hall - we saw the "Totem" show and it was simply brilliant
Jan 9 - We sent Joe packing
The last couple of weeks in London has been so relaxing for us. We have used this time to refresh and gear up for the busy upcoming months. We have some new trips planned and also some visitors booked in. Ann did make a quick trip to Paris and Rome for work last week, but other than that, it has been quiet and calm here. We are excited to have Ann's cousin Derek, who lives in Sweden, spend this weekend with us. Starting Monday, I am going to have to endure 2 weeks of being a bachelor in London. It will be tough without Ann's direction, but I am confident in my solo skills to survive!!! Ann flies to Dallas for work next week, and then is taking a week off to spend in Wisconsin. I am certainly jealous of her getting to meet Max, spend time with the Berenz clan, and eat Joe's Fox Hut, but all the more reason to look forward to October when I can do all of that when we are there for the big wedding!!! Most concerning, however, is her recurring monologue about the seemingly black hole in her wardrobe. If Wisconsin retail has had a bad start to the first quarter, do not fear, the stimulus is coming.
I suppose that is about all that I have for today. I promise that I will not leave you again for this long. Perhaps, Ann will share some of her travel stories while she is back home in the States. I will surely keep you updated on my bachelorhood as well. It will probably be best to keep track of me in the "Daily Star" as I will be out with Harry, Kate, Will, and Pippa quite a bit.
Cheers
Kevin
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