Team Update: Post Holiday/ Life Lately in Aberdeen

January 15th??! MID-JANUARY?! Can we please just pump the brakes?

It's been a solid 13 days since we've been back in Aberdeen, and let me just say, IT'S FREAKING COLD. And speaking of cold(s)— I left with a cold, held said cold at bay while in the States, returned with a cold (same cold or different, I do not know), and I am still battling cold symptoms all while living in the cold. Oh, and throw in a week of jet lag for good measure!

It's been quite the process.

It doesn't help that the days are short, dark and rainy, and there is a constant chill in our new BIG house. (Big by our standards!) More times than not I find myself soaking in a hot bath, or under the covers in our bed—ie: one flat sheet, two full comforters and one down duvet, I shit you not—just trying to warm my bones. Socks, gloves, sweatshirt, leggings, long-johns—there is no place for laying around in your underwear and a t-shirt in Aberdeen, Scotland.

This hurts my heart.

Week Forty-One

James and I spent six days in Santorini last week and it was wonderful. That place—my god— is a photographer's dream! I had such a great time going out with my camera; I captured so many great moments (memories in the flesh!), but mainly it was just James and me, relaxing and reconnecting after a very busy month of June.

Week Forty | The Fourth of July

Since I went into a five day hibernation after the Carpenters left, I was determined this week to just GET OUT! Walk. Get some fresh air. Do something! So on Monday I did some meandering around Oxford Street and got some grocery shopping done before the storm came through towards the end of the day.

Week Thirty-Eight & Nine | Team Carpenter Takes London

James and I only beat the Carpenters to London by about four hours. Our Stateside weekend had come and gone in a flash and now we were back to "normal" life. James quickly showered and skirted off to work while I awaited our guests' arrival and straightened up the flat a bit.

Week Thirty- Seven | Team Starnes Takes Washington DC

Let me start out by saying, I'm almost three weeks behind on my Weekly Recaps and I am having such a hard time getting back into the swing of things here on the blog. While I should be working on Week 39, I am struggling to get through Week 37. So much has happened in such a short amount of time— these past three weeks have just blurred together. I haven't had any time to devote to this blog, so bear with me.

Week Thirty-Six | An Anniversary Weekend

James and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary this past weekend on June 8th! YAYY! We made it!!  :)  James handled Saturday plans and I handled Sunday plans and together we created a weekend full of fun, love, laughter, relaxation and I even had a leeettle bitty health scare just to give it a little dimension and, you know, round out the weekend!

James Starnes, my life with you is never boring. I can't wait to see what round two brings! 

Love you babe! Happy Anniversary!

Week Thirty-Five | Team Cigary Takes London

I woke up Monday morning bright and early to see our friends off to the airport. 10 days flew by in an instant, but our memories will last a lifetime.

Surprisingly, our final goodbye wasn't as dramatic as expected. Between mapping out train schedules and sharing one bathroom in the early morning hours, there wasn't enough time to build up the emotional tension. Eh, I guess the epic cry Erika and I had last week will have to do...

Week Thirty-Four

These past four days flew by just as I knew they would. I LITERALLY JUST wrote my last week's recap on Monday and I am writing this week's recap today (Thursday) because I know without a doubt that it will not get done Sunday or Monday. 

Y'all, one of my best friends and one of my husband's best friends are arriving . . in London . . tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM . . AND I CAN'T HARDLY FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF! Obviously I have lots of cleaning to do, yet I stilllllllll find myself putzing around the flat and leisurely browsing through old facebook pictures from college... le sigh. The good ol' days. 

Like any longtime friendship, we've had our ups and downs and all arounds, but ultimately we have come out stronger and wiser for it, and now, not only are we the bestest of friends, our husbands have developed a bromance unlike any other. It almost overpowers Erika and mine's years of friendship. I love that about us. Couples loving couples. 

TO RECAP: 

I've been doing a lot of shopping for Spring and for our upcoming holiday in Rome (Don't worry, James, it's all returnable!) and just running errands and getting plans made for this weekend.

Monday: I shopped in the morning and then skipped kickboxing because I was still feeling a bit under the weather.

Tuesday: I spent a lot of time on the computer and on the phone knocking things off the task list and coordinating for this weekend. I successfully got the runaround several times throughout the day while trying to coordinate random things here and there, which always puts me in a sour mood. One instance involved an automated system (on an international call, mind you) and the other was with the Islington council. Both a waste of time. 

I also went to vet a place for afternoon tea for EK, Jesse, James and I and, SURPRISE, it was closed. Typical. Then I then proceeded to get on the wrong bus, recognized it immediately and ended up walking the whole way back to Highbury/Islington to take Oliver for a walk. 

Eh. Get it together Tuesday.

Wednesday: More returns, more shopping. It's endless. I had a 2:30 PM hair appointment scheduled in Dalston and I was running a little behind at Oxford Circus, so I had to seriously bust my ass to get there in time. Upon arrival, I knew this wasn't the place for me. Without going into too much detail, when I sat down in the chair and the big burly man told me to talk to him. I said, "I'm looking for really natural highlights. Not chunky, or streaky and I would like for the highlights to start at my scalp." He acted baffled and asked me to explain "natural." He proceeded to tell me that highlights are, in fact, streaks of color, yada yada...  Yeeeeeaaahhhhh . . . So I said, "Thank you! Goodbye!" and parted ways immediately. There were several other comments and incidences that happened in the span of 10 minutes, so I know it was the right decision to leave. (Groupon deal... Go figure.)

I finally made it to kickboxing where I partnered up with some of the instructors and had a really good workout. It would have been easy for me just to stay home and rest, but I am so glad that I went. It made me feel amazing.

And here we are! Thursday. I've been cleaning, I got my hair did, walked Oliver and now I am back to cleaning and getting ready. Hopefully, I will be able to work on the blog a little tonight since I am trying to get as much Barcelona out of the way before Rome. I make no promises.

OMG! What are you doing? Get off your ass and start cleaning! You have so much to do!

Okay, okay, okay!

In honor of my BFF coming to London and #TBT, here are some pictures from the good ol' days!

 Enjoy!

best friends or boyfriends? I don't know!

Week Thirty-Three

I guess you can say that I've become somewhat of a homebody recently. Between dieting and an overall lack of effort to explore, I've been sticking pretty close to home. To be quite honest, it's been more relaxing to just play Londoner rather than tourist recently.

The weather was pretty good last week and even got up to amazing Saturday and Sunday. You get a whole new perspective of Londoners when the sun comes out. People come out of the woodworks to enjoy the sun!

I've been dieting and going to kickboxing which has been the main reason I've been MIA from friend activities this past week or so... I haven't mastered self-control yet, so I'm trying not to put myself in situations where I am going to be tempted to eat and drink things I'm not supposed to.

Which brings me to Thursday. . . 

I was seven days into the Dukan Diet and feeling pretty good about my 4-6 lbs weight loss (depending on the day.) The sun was shining, I just had a great walk with Oliver, I was feeling good. Maybeee a little tooooo good.

With very little persuasion, I decided to enjoy my cheat/celebration day one day early. (This is obviously the Team Starnes version of the Dukan Diet; you are DEFINITELY NOT supposed to cheat this early into the diet!) Kristen and I enjoyed a bottle of wine and caught up while James was at a work dinner. It was nice, it was necessary, it was delicious!

Well, to make a long story short. I woke up at 1:30 AM to a raging hangover (I guess that's what happens when you don't drink for nine days??) and I wasn't able to go back to sleep. The decision to cheat and drink on Thursday basically compromised my entire weekend because it threw off my sleep cycle, (as I ended up sleeping from 9:30 AM-2:30 PM Friday morning) and then like clockwork, I got sick Saturday morning.

By Saturday night, I had completely lost my voice and I was hacking up some seriously gross stuff. I have never felt so betrayed by wine in my entire life.

The weekend was low key. James, Kristen, Adam and I went to watch the FA Cup Saturday afternoon, and in an attempt not to get puked on by some very drunk Arsenal fans, Kristen and I left the pub to sit in the sun at Tinto, a local wine bar. 

Ali and Paul met up with us shortly after and Kristen and Adam went their separate way while we all stayed and had a relaxing dinner at Mem and Laz.

As you can imagine, my diet was shattered from the weekend. I still feel good about what changes I have made in my diet and exercise regime, and as long as I don't eat like I am on holiday every day, I should see some improvements. 

Sunday was the best weather we've had in London thus far. Kristen, James and I all went to the park and laid out for a bit to soak up a little sun. It was heavenly. My skin desperately needs some sun. I've been kinda struggling with it recently...

And now, it's Monday. It's currently 76 degrees outside (it was even warmer a couple of hours ago) and I am sitting on the bed in my office writing this post in my underwear. I don't know y'all, this no air conditioning thing could get a little funky. I'm sensitive to the heat now... what is it going to be like in a couple of months? eeeeeeeek.

Well, I've been running errands all day, just trying to get my head in the game for Team Cigary's arrival Friday morning! I. CAN. NOT. WAIT! It's gonna be amazinggggg!

Welp, that's about it! Here are a few pictures from last week!

happy monday!

Week Thirty-Two

There is nothing to say about Week 32. I didn't leave the flat except to walk Oliver and go to kickboxing. Super low key. No particular reason. It just kinda ended up like that. On the upside, we cooked every night last week, which is NOTTT normal for us. No dinners out, no happy hours...

I guess I am kinda detoxing. Scratch that. I am detoxing. I haven't had a drink since last Tuesday night. That's five days guys! And my goal is to stay dry through Friday afternoon of this week and reward James and myself with red wine and filet mignon for dinner.  I make no promises, but currently I am going strong with tea.

I'm also five days into the Dukan Diet, so obviously I have been a real gem. Lucky James!!! 

Updates:

- The Cigarys arrive in London in less than two weeks.

- Rome is booked for Team Starnes and Team Cigary for May 29- June 1.

- In 27 days, Team Starnes will celebrate our ONE year anniversary. WHATTTT??!

- We have 142 days left in London on this assignment.

- By the end of July, we have to tell our property management company if we are coming back to Charlotte.

- I'm sure I'm leaving something out...

Happy Monday! xx

**linked up

TEAM KING TAKES LONDON PART 2

We only had just over two days with the Kings before they were skirting off to Paris, so we wanted to make sure they saw at least all the major monuments. That obviously includes St. Paul's Cathedral, so after lunch at Chapel Market, that's exactly where we went.

James works directly across from St. Paul's, so he took this opportunity to show us his go-to pub nearby for watching sport.

After a pint, we got back on the bus and headed over to Trafalgar Square, where we were surprised to find an Indian festival was going on.

I'm a huge Covent Garden fan, so we deviated off course a bit to see the market and have another pint.

At this point, I was feeling tired, so I went home to relax while the Kings and James went on to Buckingham Palace. After a couple of hours, we met up back in Islington to grab some traditional fish and chips.

The food was good and everyone enjoyed it. Being that it was a Sunday night, things were calming down early, so we just went back to the flat and relaxed with each other for a bit before calling it a night.

It was so, so, so nice having our good friends here for the weekend and I know I started to get a little choked up when we finally said our goodbyes... It's so easy to fall back into the old routine with these familiar faces, but I know that no matter where we are in the world, we will definitely see them again and we will ALWAYS be the best of friends!