Jac's thoughts: December 2008

As 2008 comes to a close, I figured I would write a little something to remember the year. I actually sent this letter out to family and friends with their Christmas cards to share our year with them. Jamey and I plan to make this a yearly Christmas tradition, so that we have a way to keep our memories written down. 2008 was, in a word, busy!!! We had so much fun, but we haven't stopped for a breath yet. We look forward to having an exciting, yet more relaxing 2009! We hope that good things are in store for us, and we are so thankful for all the goodness we have been blessed with so far. Enjoy the story of 2008, and all the best for 2009!

As 2008 comes to a close, it’s nice to reflect back on what we have experienced this year. Jamey and I ended 2007 with the most magical experience yet, our wedding. On December 1^st 2007, Jamey and I were married at Rolesville Baptist Church and then had a celebration at the Capital City Club in Raleigh, where we were entertained by the great tunes of Chairmen of the Board. We met (for the second time) at their concert in Charlotte! The wedding was fantastic and we still talk about it with family and friends a whole year later.

We celebrated Christmas and the New Year in Reading with friends. It was a nice Christmas, but we are really looking forward to being in North Carolina this year with family and friends. Jamey celebrated his 30^th birthday this year on the 2^nd of January, and on the 12^thof February, I celebrated my 30^th birthday. Jamey took me to see one of my favourite bands, 30 Seconds to Mars, and it was fantastic!

The spring brought about some travel for us and some really exciting times! Jamey’s friend Jimmy came to visit us in Reading and then they met up with another friend Jack for a trip to Eastern Europe. My friend, Bethany, later came for a visit and she and I went to Dublin, Ireland. Jamey and I finally decided to move from Reading to London. It was difficult to leave, as we loved our house in Reading and even more, we loved our friends in Reading. Luckily we still visit our old house from time to time, and we have maintained our close ties with our Reading friends, as I knew we would. Our new flat was left in a bit of a mess, as we moved in, and then left that weekend for our honeymoon!!!

Oh, our honeymoon!! We spent two weeks in the French Polynesian Islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora… Talk about Paridise! We had a 26 hour flight from London to New York to Los Angeles to Papeete (Tahiti). We spent the first few nights in Papeete where we just relaxed by the sand pool and on the beach. We had room service, ate at the fabulous breakfast bar with all the fresh fruit, caught up on our sleep from the jet lag, and just chilled out. Then we took a ferry to Moorea where we spent several nights in the most gorgeous villa I’ve ever seen! We were in our very own bungalow in a beautiful garden. The floors and all the décor were made of beautiful Rosewood, the bathroom had beautiful fixtures… words really do it no justice! The beaches were beautiful and the scenery from the mountaintop was breathtaking. We got around town on a scooter (yes, Jamey did the driving, as we all know I’m a little clumsy!). We then flew to Bora Bora where we spent an entire week. If I thought Moorea was beautiful, I hadn’t seen Bora Bora yet! We had an overwater bungalow with a glass bottom floor where we could see the sea life swim by. We had a deck which led us straight out into the sea, where we went swimming. We went snorkelling with the amazing Sea Turtles being rehabilitated at the resort. We kayaked, went windsurfing, played ping pong, learned to play the ukulele (well, not really, but we tried and we brought home a handmade one with our names engraved on the back), swam with sharks, stingrays, ate at Bloody Mary’s (twice!), saw a wedding on the beach, soaked up some amazing sun, we made the most of our time and enjoyed every minute of it, 2 weeks free of TV and telephone!

Back to the real world in London, we found ourselves very busy during the summer, trying to sort out our new flat with all its hiccups. We made a trip to NC for our friends’, Jack and Heather, wedding and then made our annual 4^th of July trip to Wrightsville Beach. Back from NC, we arrived and had Jamey’s brother Justin and his wife Holly over for a visit. In August, my brother Lloyd came for a visit for two weeks. We saw all the London attractions and then made a trip to Tenerife, Spain. The weather was gorgeous, food was fantastic, and we had such a great time! We celebrated a 25 year wedding anniversary with our dear friends John and Sue Carter, and then ended the summer with a BBQ at our house with some friends.

Fall brought about a new love of my life… Bikram Yoga. It’s hot yoga, yes, yoga in a room that’s about 100 degrees Fahrenheit! I’m still doing that with my dear friend Rachel, who is a fellow southern belle, living in Reading (working in London) with her hubby Virgil! What fun we have every week! I finally saw Madonna live in concert, after all these years of loving her, and even pretending to be her at a Girls Scout talent show when I was 7 years old! 23 years later, she was still amazing. Recently, we decided it was time to search for yet another place to live. We wanted a house, something a bit more homely than the small flat we are currently in. We searched and searched and found a beautiful house in the West London area called Chiswick. Lloyd visited Chiswick with me and he summed it up when he said "it reminds me of Wake Forest, NC". He’s right, it’s very similar. We can’t wait to get settled into our new home!

The chilly days leading up to the holidays are flying by, as we get ready to move into our new house in Chiswick before we go home to North Carolina for Christmas and New Year’s. We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with some American friends, Ken and Rachel. We had a Whole Foods Thanksgiving at their home. No, not the real thing, but we all work and we didn’t get the time off over here to cook all day, so we had to improvise. I did make a pecan pie though! We have a trip to Paris coming up to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary! It has been an amazing first year and we both look forward to what the next has to offer.