Catch Up

Now that I am a Mum, (that's mom in british terms) I think it's time I get the blog back up and running. So much has happened in our lives since I have last written and I want to be able to look back and remember every detail of it all.

So, here it goes. Let's start from where we left off...

We moved. TWICE.

Way back in October 2012, Jeff was offered a position in NYC in the Private Bank at JP Morgan so, we packed up all of our stuff in Scottsdale, AZ and moved across the country to the big apple. We were living in the Financial District and loving every minute of it. We made tons of friends and were enjoying our new city life. We were only there for six months but it felt so much longer because of all that happened while we were there.

Our apartment building

 Downtown

Helping clean up after Hurricane Sandy

Celebrating our 3rd anniversary on a boat cruise around the city

Manhattan Temple

 
Christmas in the city

Bringing in the new year with friends

Empty subway- the best!

Yankee game

Just to mention a few things, our second week in the city we were hit with Hurricane Sandy. Since our apartment building was so close to the river, we were evacuated and weren't allowed to come back for 2 weeks. It wasn't too bad though because we got to spend some extra time with Jeff's parents in Pennsylvania. Shortly after we got back to our apartment, I got offered a job at Drybar in Tribeca. It was so fun and I miss it often. I even did a celebrity's hair once - it was pretty cool. Life was pretty great as we knew it but what we didn't know was it was about to change drastically. 

It all happened the same week. Let me back up though and give a little back story on how it all came to be.  When we were still living in Arizona, Jeff reached out to a few groups in the Investment Bank at JPM in London to find out more about potential opportunities. He let them know that he was really interested but unfortunately at the time there were no open positions. After we had made the move to NYC, Jeff again reached out to the London groups to just let them he had moved to New York and was still interested in opportunities sometime in the future. To his surprise, the manager of the DCM team over central and eastern Europe was going to be in NY for a meeting and invited him to lunch. During the lunch, he told Jeff that there happened to be an opening on their team and asked him to come to London (where his team is based) and interview with the team.

So there it was, Jeff was going to LONDON to interview which meant we might be moving again! I think we were both pretty nervous and excited at the prospect of living in another country. It gets crazier...a few days before he was leaving for his interview, I found out I was PREGNANT!!!! Now many of you know, Jeff and I had been trying for a baby for about a year and a half at that point. We were beyond excited to get this news. Later that week I got to hear our baby's heartbeat, probably the exact same time Jeff got offered the position in London. What a day!
So, after a short 6 months in Manhattan we packed up our stuff (again!) and headed across the pond to start a new life as Londoners. Neither one of us had ever been in the UK before (besides Jeff's interview) and we were pretty overwhelmed the day we flew in. I think riding in a cab that was driving on the left side of the road was quite a shock. It definitely didn't help with my pregnancy nausea. While looking for a flat to live in we found temporary places to stay on airbnb. We ended up staying in a couple's place in Shepard's Bush while they were on holiday in Africa who asked us to watch their pet while they were away. When we got there, we found out we would be babysitting a royal python for our stay! On top of that, 'Pythagoras' had to come of his cage for 'playtime' once a day, which was my job of course since Jeff was working all day. It's so funny looking back on this now - I still cannot believe I agreed to do that. About a month later we were all moved into our new home in Victoria where we have been living ever since.

 Flying in to London

Pythagoras the royal python

The London eye

Westminster Abbey

I think this is a good place to pause. Next post will be all about our summer in London and our lovely babymoon in Spain and Slovenia.

Cheers,

The Meise's