Greetings from Kilmarnock, VA

Good Morning from Virginia!

The dust has settled for the time being, and I find myself in the Kilmarnock/White Stone/Irvington area at my parents' temporary home overlooking Anti-Poison Creek. We move into the permanent new house this weekend. It is beautiful here, and the stress from living in New York seems to have melted. I am loving being home. Even though I am no longer working at Millennium, I find myself busy doing work each morning so far. In the mornings I have either been visiting with family/close friends or planning the move to Hong Kong. Living in a larger, cleaner space is refreshing and mind-clearing. Any of you New Yorkas, come visit whenever you want! (Miss yall very much already!)

The move itself was fine--very glad it is behind me. I couldn't have done it without Rob's help. He helped with every aspect of the move.

Tomorrow I'll head back to Richmond to see some more friends and help Rob grocery shop for the Fourth of July. He's having 30 UVA friends come to his home in Irvington for the weekend. Looking forward to a big time!

Talk to you soon! xox

P.S. check out this link, so oddly hilarious.

Bon Voyage Weekend! Y'all are the best :)

This was a wonderful whirlwind weekend! I can't tell you how special it was and how touched I was that my friends went out on such a limb to say goodbye to me. I'd love to go into elaborate detail and revel in all the fun I had this weekend, and I don't want to gloat, but sorry if I do. I'll give you a rundown. Rob flew up Thursday night, and we kept it pretty low key, as I had work Friday and he had an interview at an American fund with offices in HK. I was giddy with anticipation all day at the thought of our evening plans. Lib and friends had worked hard to plan an Asian-themed party with our friend's at Charlotte's apartment. After the party I would leave for what I had been told would be a surprise "dinner" with Rob.

Charlotte's apartment was decked out with Chinese decorations (loved the paper dragon!) and delicious Asian-inspired foods. We hung out and danced and took pictures at Charlotte's for a while until Rob said it was time to go to dinner. (I was encouraged to eat the goods at the party, so I was already stuffed). Nonetheless, it was dinnertime, and Lib added some fireworks to the fete by "icing" me and Rob upon our departure. HA.


(Lib, my awesome roommie, and I in front of the vicious, hard-to-see paper dragon!)

After climbing out of the taxi, Rob claimed he "got confused" with directions (psh) on the way to the surprise restaurant, so we walked a little ways...towards Chelsea Piers. I was buying all of this, by the way, and embarrassingly had even spent the day on UrbanDaddy trying to figure out the surprise dinner locale (as much as I love them, I'm not used to surprises). Along the walk, I kept trying to figure out where in the world we were going. And we keep walking, around the corner, to the water near Chelsea Piers. As I turn the corner with Rob, I found ALL of my friends from the party were there. They told me we were going on a bon voyage sail along the Hudson!!! Yes, yes!! I teared up--totally could not help it. I was so touched and so surprised. Rob, Lib, Magnus, Charlotte, Jenna, Joe, Schwab, Brian, Ken, Coughlin, Molly, Merrill, Lizzie, Clara--Y'all are THE BEST. I love you all and am so appreciative of all you did. I will miss you tons (and we better stay in touch via this blog, skype, email/gchat/videochat!!!). For those of you who were unable to make it, I understand. You better stay in touch, too!!

After much champagne/beer/younameit on the beautiful boat (pictures to come), we left and went to the Rusty Knot/Bongo to cap off the night. At Bongo I happened to meet a girl wearing the same dress as I was wearing, and she happened to be moving to Hong Kong with Morgan Stanley NEXT WEEK. How bizarre!

Saturday I had lunch with Natalia before Rob and I met everyone from Friday night to go to Brew Fest on Governor's Island. If you haven't been to the island, GO. The island is one of my favorite places in NY (and the ferry is free!).

Anyway, the whole weekend was great. Friends, Thank you all again, I love you and couldn't have lived in NY for 2 years without you. XO

Merrill capped off the weekend well by sharing her Wii--someone let the dog's out! Rob--we're getting one in HK :)

Blog Entry Two--Post Dinner with Natalia at Snack Taverna

Good Evening,

I just returned from dinner with my lovely friend Natalia, whom I became friends with four summers ago as an intern in New York. We have been great friends ever since. This was dubbed our farewell dinner; however, we plan to see each other again, so it was mostly just dinner. (Nat, love you, that was delicious.) If you are looking for a good, easy place to dine, Snack Taverna in the West Village is a tasty little Greek spot. The feta and watermelon salad appetizer is more than good.

Home now, and I'm so excited that Rob is coming up to New York tomorrow night!! I'll be running in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 5K race in Central Park, before he arrives. Then we are planning to go to Lupa for dinner. Neither of us has ever been. Rob has an interview Friday, and I'm sure he will be great! We have lots of plans this weekend, but I'll tell you about them later. Until then I'll sign off, but not before saying that we've begun the Hong Kong apartment search! Lots going on and lots to do...



P.S. Song of the day is "Summer in the City" by The Lovin' Spoonful.

Blog Entry One

Good Morning!

I'm nearing the end of my time in New York (less than 2 Weeks!), and I've decided it's time to begin a Hong Kong blog. I decided to begin now so that I could include posts about the (fun) tail end of my two years in Manhattan and posts about my summertime stay in Virginia, where I plan to see family and friends before venturing to HONG KONG. Today is Tuesday, and this is a busy week of events with dear friends. I'll try to include you on some of the ongoings.

Before signing off, I'll add that Rob and I booked one-way flights to Hong Kong yesterday. August 18, Cathay Pacific, JFK-HKG. Get ready Hong Kong, here I come! :)