Last week, I was lucky enough to head to London for a few days for work.. not only was this great because I flew.. (a mere 40 minute flight).. but I got to see loads of friends and have a fantastic time enjoying all the things I love about London.
I went for work because the digital agency I am working for at the moment is based in London. I flew down with a co-worker of mine on a 7am flight and we had a day full of meetings. The best part was the meetings were at the offices in my favorite part of town where I used to work and live - Shoreditch. After our day full of meetings I met my dear friends Elena and Pablo at a basement bar off of Hoxton Square. Everything changes so quickly in Shoreditch that the bar was below a cafe I had never seen before. Look at the name!
After drinks, we all headed to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I miss delish Thai food... so many options in Brooklyn. Not enough in Glasgow. I crashed at my good friend Claire's place and the next day, I did loads of wandering... I wandered around Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, walked along the Thames.. I wandered into Selfridges to look at the spring line of Marc Jacobs bags then, to the American food department of Selfridges department store (very similar to Macys in New York City --> not mall Macys). Check out all the goodies. So exotic!
I had such a great time. Strangely enough, I think the best part was simply sitting in a pub in old Spitalfields, reading a magazine and watching the people walk by. I missed Ruby and Brent but, it was so refreshing to have work meetings and discuss current things happening at work (which I love my job) as well as time with my closest friends whom I miss dearly.. made me think Ruby and I might be hopping on a train down to London sooner than you think. x
Don't mind the shaky camera.. once Ruby started laughing at me kicking an Ikea fuzzy cube up in the air.. she could not stop... like, cracking up needed to take deep breaths because this was so funny. Our nighttime routine now is she hangs out in the kitchen, CRAWLS around the floor (more on this later), plays with toys and finds the tiniest pieces of food (parsley, cheerio bit) - while I cook dinner and we listen to the radio. I love it. These are the days.
Ruby celebrated her 11 month birthday last week. Can you believe it?
while we went to a fantastic 1st birthday party for Penelope - Ruby's friend whose daddy Ben (from Montreal) is also in the Glasgow MFA program.
It's amazing watching them grow together.. here they are sharing a tender moment.. -- don't mind the baby on the balloon waving around.. it was fun to watch actually. ;-)
Hi all,
Welcome to the first blog post of 2012!
We ended the year with a lot of airplane travel and a lot of family.. all the travel was well worth it.
Here are a few shots from our adventures... keep checking the blog as I promise to have more updates for 2012... you know how the holidays are.. poof! time passes so quickly.
Here we are at the airport about to board our plane for Newark, NJ then from Newark to Detroit. Ruby posed at the big champagne bottle.
Ruby was awesome on the our flight over to the USA. Smiles, sleeping and playing.. as well as flirting with all the airplane staff. We were not in Michigan long as a few days after we landed, we were off to Ohio to visit with all the Ridge family. Our first stop was with Grandma Ridge on her farm. Here we are on her farm.
Here is a shot with Ruby and her Great Grandma.
In Ohio we attended the Ridge Family Christmas party.. a party of 45 members of immediate family! Here is Ruby with her cousin Sawyer (3 months younger than Ruby). Ruby wore her kilt to add a bit of Scottish flair.
Soon after.. we celebrated Ruby's 10 month birthday! I found these cupcakes at the local grocery store. How cute are they? and festive.
Happy 10 month birthday Ruby!
Grandma Susie was nice enough to babysit one night for us. Brent and I went to Detroit (about 1 hour from Brent's parent's house) and went to the Detroit Art Institute as well as the MGM Grand Casino.. as you can see below with my voucher of $0.03 -- I was not a big winner.. but I had fun anyway.
and Santa visited us in Michigan.. how cool is that.. he just knew it was Ruby's first Christmas. He looked an awful lot like Uncle Bob.. but, no matter.. a man in a red suit saying ho ho ho.. must be Santa!
After our Michigan visit, we headed to Boston for New Year and a lovely visit with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Dave. I had the opportunity to immerse myself in a lot of yoga and shopping for Ruby. Finally we returned to Glasgow a few days ago.. and yesterday enjoyed a nice lunch in the pub (a cozy pub by our place with couches and a fireplace).. a well deserved break after a busy holiday season. How was yours? Happy New Year and a wonderful 2012 to everyone!
