2007: The Year in Review

Ok, I’m even later with this posting, but here’s a look back at some of the things that kept us busy during 2007.

Living and Working

We had major changes on both of these fronts in 2007!

• We moved out of our cosy 52nd Street Apartment at the end of January, and moved in to an even cosier studio on 2nd Avenue. Though it was much smaller, it had such a cool vibe – I really enjoyed living there!
• After 18 months of service by Kristy, and two-and-a-half years for me, we both finished working at the UN at the beginning of May.
• Our last night in New York was the 9th of June. We flew overnight on the 10th, and landed – jetlagged, tired, and missing one suitcase – in London on the 11th.
• Save for a one week hiatus at Stacey and Wes’ place (whilst they journeyed around Wales), we dossed with Ben and Michelle for a very long eight weeks when we first arrived here. How on earth they put up with us for so long I don’t know! But we will forever be grateful.
• We moved into our first London flat just off the Chiswick High Road in August.
• I took a short contract working for The Lemon Foundation in early July, before starting a permanent role for CQS in August.
• Kristy also started a new job in August, working for Transport For London (TFL), where she has dominated in numerous different roles.

Travel

We still maintain that travelling is one of our top priorities whilst we’re living overseas, and this year we’ve enjoyed some of the best holidays of our lives!

• At the end of February, we headed to London to begin a two week holiday covering Seville and Barcelona in Spain, and then a week of skiing in Andorra.
• In April, I shaved my head before we took a quick trip down to Fort Lauderdale with Jurgen and Sibylle, to visit my cousins – the Cookes.
• We hit Mexico with Ben and Michelle where we enjoyed visiting ruins, swimming at some awesome beaches, and snorkelling through some underground caverns.
• After Mexico, it was straight over to Los Angeles to spend time with Aunt Rosey and check out all the local tourist attractions. Following that, we took a three day road trip, driving from LA up to San Francisco, where we spent another seven days (and decided it was about three days too many).
• We took a crazy overnight drive to Paris with John, Kirsty, and Todd not long after we arrived in London.
• At the end of August, we spent three lovely days in Prague with Ben and Michelle, Ben’s Mum Wendy, and Gumby.
• In September, we snuck back into Australia primarily to attend Jason and Louise’s wedding. Afterwards we headed up to Brisbane for some precious catch up time with family, friends, and puppies.
• On the way back to the UK, I did two solo nights in Hong Kong where I got to spend a day with my old friend John, as well as shop up a storm!
• We took a few day trips with Mom and Dad – one to Dover Castle, another to Oxford.
• In November, we spent a lovely weekend out in the quiet English countryside with Team BaM.
• We enjoyed possibly our best Christmas ever with a week of skiing in France. Many thanks to Team BaM, Team Dahl, and Kirstin for such an awesome holiday!

Visitors

With all our movements this year, our visitor count has certainly been lower than previous years, but that doesn’t mean we enjoyed their company any less!

• John and Kirstin visited us for four days in January – the first time they’d even met us! They were the last visitors to stay with us at our 52nd Street apartment.
• Ben and Michelle became our last ever New York visitors coming over for a quick shopping spree before our trip to Mexico in May. Oh – and Kristy didn’t know they were coming!
• Jason and Louise were our first international visitors, spending a week in London with us on the tail end of their honeymoon. During their stay we hired a car and went to the Cotswolds and Stonehenge.
• Mom and Dad came to stay! Actually they had stayed in our place whilst we were in Australia, but then they came back for two weeks, even staying during my birthday! It was awesome to have my parents around – the place has never looked tidier!

Miscellaneous

• We survived our coldest day ever in February – base temperature -12C, or -22C with wind chill!
• My razr was stolen from my locker at the gym so I upgraded to a Nokia E65.
• I was officially dubbed not a terrorist by a metro police inspector at Victoria underground station.
• gerrod.com hit the the 1,000 story mark and the Statistics page was born.