Yoon buys a guitar

After consulting with Morgan about which guitar to buy, Yoon chose a very stylish "chick magnet" acoustic from the Guitar Shop in Falls Church.

We move out when?

Ok, so I knew we would have to repack before heading out to New Zealand but I really thought it would be easy. I mean, they have people for this right? Some guys come, pack up your stuff, put it on a ship and send it to our new house. That apparently is the easy part. Getting someone in the transportation department to answer the phone is another story. I started on Tuesday. It is now Friday afternoon. Uh, I have 3 weeks to get my stuff organized, moved, sorted and shipped but first I need an appointment. I guess my advice is to all new comers; make your appointment for your pack out as soon as you arrive J. And, don't forget to give your temporary living manager a 30 day notice when you move out otherwise you could get kicked out early or have to pay for your additional days.

Dining Out in Falls Church

If you want to go to dinner at a good restaurant in Falls Church on a Thursday night you have to make servations. We did not make reservations so tried the Thai Restaurant near the Restaurant we wanted to eat at.

The inside was not spectacular but the service was great and the food was very good. After waiting longer than he should have for his dinner (we were all served 20 minutes before him for some reason) Adrian's dinner was worth the wait.

Our Furniture in the Foreign Service

So I did a quick search to try to figure out what kind of furniture we're likely to have. I remembered seeing a quick video of the housing available at our post and was not loving the color scheme. I figured slip covers would be a great option. I hate the Sure Fit slipcovers however, so my other options were Pottery Barn or Custom made both of which are more expensive. I was delighted to find the Marvin J Perry website which tells you exactly what type of furniture is available.

go to: www.marvinjperryinc.com. Click on accounts, username state, password-Drexel. Voila....you can llok up everything.

You're welcome.

Soccer on The Mall / The Legendary 152nd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9EyXvN_J7E

Highland Games

It was fun finishing off our time in the Carolinas with a gathering of the clans at the Greenville, Highland Games. Prince Edward even attended though I only got picture of the back of his head.

We've heard that the NZlanders love everything Scottish too so we should fit right in. What better representation of the American people than a kid in a skirt waving an axe right ?

2 Days and counting

Although my husband has been at FSI for nearly 2.5 months now, my journey begins in 2 days ! It has been a very long road for us to get to this point. Adrian took the written test (aced it) in late 2008, passed the orals (first time around) in May 09 and joined A100 in March 2010. Of course they say to not quit your job or sell your house until you know for sure when you are going to be called but we did both. Ever the optimist and upstanding employee, dh quit his job at the newspaper in March 09 (yes, before the orals) and we sold our house in September 09. Uh, yeah, before he got his offer. To say we were a bit stressed out in an understatement. So, we were homeless and unemployed for alomost a year! Which turned out to be a blessing.
We are lucky enough to have family to "donate" their vacation home to us while we were waiting for the call. The fact that the kids have been coming to the house in Tryon since they were infants helped with the transition. They love it here and blossomed in their new schools. Morgan grew @ 12 inches and secured a spot on the middle school soccer team while Ewan went on to an undefeated season in the local soccer program. It also helped that our house is gorgeous with a swimming pool and fort :) We are very lucky. Thanks Mom & Dad. You can have your house back now. A bit dirtier than you are used to and I am sure you will find the odd sock now and then ( somehow I have 30 socks that don't have mates-I know they're around here somewhere) but we have appreciated it and will never be able to repay you. No, really.
The hardest part about leaving now was getting the boys out of school a week early. We tried to hold on until the last week but we miss Dad and the house is being rennovated so it's time to move on.
All we have to do now is pack the UAB, tie up some loose ends in Florida (our domicile) and head to DC. I can't wait.