Wedding gift from the 'rents

The Kennedy family spent a few days together driving around the Irish country side. One of our objectives was to hunt down a piece of crystal that we would like as a gift from my parents. We did spend quite a bit of time on the hunt and at least mom was smart enough to grab a business card from the first dealer we came across. When Lindsey and I returned to the UK empty handed we gave the very first guy a call and asked him if he could use his contacts with Heritage crystal to track down a piece that we both liked. With an error or two in delivery attempts we finally received the piece and have enjoyed it ever since. Thanks Mom and Dad. Please enjoy the craftsmanship and brilliance of crystal that is still hand carved/cut.

Thrill of the Year

A month or so ago a group of 9 people - mostly co-workers - decided to jump out of a plane together. We did not tell our superiors about it until after the fact. It was a fantastic time and look forward to my next opportunity to jump again. I am pretty sure that everyone in the group felt the same way.

Beautiful flowers

Even though we have a very small space out doors at our current flat Lindsey has made the most of it by filling it up with many pots of flowers and decorations. Aunt Kathie Nenaber even made a contribution with a beautiful rose bush. Enjoy.......

Spurt of Golf

I had the pleasure of golfing two out of three days this past week. Went to Buckinghamshire with James Faraci, Simon Whitear, and Ian Mounfield. It was a great day of golf and ultimately Jim and I took a little money off of the other two suckers. On Monday, Jim invited the same group to the West Course at Wentworth which is home of the PGA BMW Championship. Fortunately or unfortunately they were reworking the hardest two holes because of complaints by the pros so I wasn't able to test my skills but in the following picture you can see the original green up above the ledge and the temporary green below to the left. We ended up playing to a tie. Tied the front nine and back nine and no money changed hands. They say we will carry it over to the next match. I'll make sure they remember that!

Finally Made it to Brightin

As we wind down the summer we figured it was time to hit up the beaches of Brighton. It was a little chilly but sitting out in the fresh air and sunshine was a nice change of pace. If you ever doubted that Brighton's beaches were rocks look no further than the following pictures.

Dover Sunday

On Sunday we accompanied Brandon Zick and Erin Zick to Dover England. They had visited Oxford the day before so came well prepared for the train ride with a deck of cards and an iPad. Made for a quick ride. The overall trip was about exactly what our London cab driver had warned us about but was still something that we had to see to check of our list. It is a port city that just so happens to have a castle and beautiful white cliffs at its doorstep. When we arrived we followed the signs to the city center for an hour. When we realized that we had gone around in a huge circle we figured out that we had been following the signs for traffic to go around the city center following the one way streets. But our trek did bring us fairly close to the most happening place in the town. When we walked in to the restaurant we didn't know what to think. There were a few tables occupied with dozens more empty. It was more people than we had seen in the last hour so we decided to walk in and give it a shot. When we asked the host if we could have a table for four and he gave us a tortured expression that showed us he didn't know where to seat us we all kind of looked at each other and wondered what was wrong with all the empty tables. He did finally explain that he needed that table back in an hour if he sat us. We agreed and he was right. The lunch was very enjoyable and the place was full by the time we exited. Now on to the hiking.......

We must have walked more than 6 or 7 miles by the time the day was over and with a little bit of rain and a lot of cliffs and hills Brandon and I both agreed that we felt like we were walking around with ski boots on by the time we made it back to the train station. We first walked out to the white cliffs to take the necessary pictures and then back tracked to the castle. The rain hit hard while we were walking the grounds of the castle and pretty much made us all agree that it was time to head home. Surprisingly none of us feel asleep on the ride home and we continued to enjoy each others company after such a long day. Tonight (Monday) we are all meeting up with some local friends and dining at Scalini. Haven't been there since my first day in London.


Lindsey carving our initials into the white cliffs that will last about as long as the next great rain storm.

Weekend in England

This weekend was one of those that was busy but enjoyable. Friday night we hung out with Jon Lansing, his beautiful fiance Lisa, and Mike Goodspeed. We went to look at a flat in Hampstead Heath and followed that up with dinner at Goucho and "ice cream" at Yogurtry. Then Lisa invited us back to their flat so she could dismantle us in a game of American trivia.

Saturday was a little more about quality time. Lindsey and I got up and enjoyed a cappuccino on the pavement outside of Med Kitchen and then decided we would treat out ourselves to a fine lunch at the Dorchester Hotel. It really was a fun experience and for the most part everything we ordered was incredible. Only once did Lindsey have to use her napkin on a bite of some sort of chicken and something mashed all together appetizer.





The icing on top was definitely the dessert. I think it was so good because of its simplicity - Hot vanilla rice pudding with pecan ice cream and raspberry preserve - and it was worth going back for it again.