The Arthouse

2008-02-26T17:51:00.002Z

Musings

Sheesh, it's been nearly a year since I posted anything! Whoops... Well anyway, here are some semi-creative musings I had on an early-morning walk to work out Morningside Road and through the Meadows...

I.
Triumphant she stands, face to the wind.
Bosom puffed out, proud, belly not far behind.
Leaning in to the gale, she wields her staff of power - a lollipop sign.
"STOP" it commands to the traffic.
Mouth scored in to her creviced face, outlined bright red
And showing off crooked old teeth within.
As her neon safety jacket billlows back,
Draped over the lumpy shape of her rotund form,
She catches my eye and laughs.

II.
The fog hovers,
Waiting for a reason to move on.
Sparrows rough-and-tumble,
Fluttering like a school of dried leaves.
Seagulls sit,
Fat,
Like pieces of trash left over from Saturday night's carelessness,
Waiting for food to show up.

-

2007-04-22T22:04:00.000+01:00

2007-04-01T22:48:00.000+01:00

Your Hands - Pablo Neruda

When your hands go out,
love, toward mine,
what do they bring me flying?
Why did they stop
at my mouth, suddenly,
why do I recognize them
as if then, before,
I had touched them,
as if before they existed
they had passed over
my forehead, my waist?

Their softness came
flying over time,
over the sea, over the smoke,
over the spring,
and when you placed
your hands on my chest,
I recognized those golden
dove wings,
I recognized that clay
and that color of wheat.

All the years of my life
I walked around looking for them.
I went up the stairs,
I crossed the roads,
trains carried me,
waters brought me,
and in the skin of the grapes
I thought I touched you.
The wood suddenly
brought me your touch,
the almond announced to me
your secret softness,
until your hands
closed on my chest
and there like two wings
they ended their journey.

Current Mood: Yummy
Current Music: Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

2007-04-01T18:54:00.000+01:00

The Motorcycle Diaries

I love this movie. They've stopped selling it. How interesting to watch Che Guevara develop from an immature boy in to a revolutionary through his interaction with individuals within the context of creation. There's something mysterious and HUGE about that which really grabs me. I love the theme of travel, moving on, leaving behind.
"Dear Mom," he wrote, "What do we leave behind when we cross a frontier? Each moment seems split in two: melancholy for what is left behind, and excitement for what is ahead." I feel like that's the story of my life!

Current Mood: Satisfied.
Current Music: BBC Radio Scotland News.

2007-03-25T18:02:00.000+01:00

Saturday Night Fever

I love it when I get in to 'the zone'. You're going to laugh when I say what I mean by the zone. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mom! Basically, I don't like cleaning. And I like it even less because (being a carer by trade at the moment) my work is (among other things) to clean other people's houses. So when I actually get in to the mood to clean our house, I go for it. So last night, at 10 pm, after working since 8am, I vacuumed the flat (and moved most of the furniture!), washed a mammoth pile of dishes, tidied up our kitchen generally, washed the stove top, scrubbed down the bathroom, hung 2 loads of washing AND mopped the kitchen floor! Tim, I'm sure, is glad that he had escaped to the movies at that point so he didn't get sucked in to the black hole that is AL's cleaning zone. It's hereditary. :-) (Love you Mom!) And, yes, it feels so good afterwards!

Current Mood: clean!
Current Music: Money - Pink Floyd

2007-03-23T22:52:00.000Z

REV ROCKS!!!

Just got back from going to see one of my Navs girls in a rock gospel choir called Revelation (Rev).
If you hear 'gospel' and you think hymnals and choir robes, forget that!! There was a full band, plus the Edinburgh Uni drum society, amazing spotlights, and a choir of.... I don't know, 60+?
They sang everything from 'Amen' and 'Awesome God' to 'Hey Ya' and 'You Gotta Be'. At the end my friend Tori and I were up dancing in the aisles! I loved it. Some of the soloists were really great as well.

Running at 6.15am tomorrow and then doin a full day's work. Never in my life have I wished a Saturdays would pass quickly until starting this job! Oh well, it's not too bad. I eat my packed lunch in the garden at the Modern Art Gallery which is nice. Except for once I was wandering around and stepped on this stone circle and then after I was told 'you're not supposed to be on there' by some nosy fellow patron, I realised it was mean to be an artwork. Oops.

Current mood: ready for my bed.
Current music: A Day in the Life - Beatles.

2007-03-22T21:26:00.000Z

Back from the dead... again...

I won't make reference to the fact that I haven't posted since last YEAR, but anyway there it is.
I was working today, which was fine... one of my clients lives in an area that's awkward to get to, so I ended up running to his house (jogging?) and back, and to the next client's house and back... over 10 1/2 KM!! I think that's over 6 miles, but not sure. So feeling a bit run over now! It's good for me I'm sure.

I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow - going to sleep in, then meet a mentoree for coffee, and then meet MY mentor for coffee, and then I'm going to a gospel choir concert! The choir is called Revelation, and apparently they're really good.... plus one of my Navs girls is in it. Very excited. It's meant to last from 7-11pm! In true gospel music style. :-)

My friend Natalie came for dinner last night before choir, and she brought ginger cake that was iced with the most delicious white icing EVER! It was really nice and chewy. She said "I feel like my teeth are snowboarding on this icing." :-)

ONLY 18 DAYS TILL WE GO TO THE STATES!!!

Current mood: happy but knackered.
Current music: Sparks - Coldplay

2006-12-08T22:51:00.000Z

1 Concert down, 4 to go!

Well we had our first concert on Wednesday night. It went surprisingly well (for a first concert of the season) except for the fact that once I went and sat down in the front pew... when I thought I wasn't meant to be singing... but I was meant to be singing. Oops. And one time I sang the complete wrong words on a solo verse. And the audience had the words in their leaflets. Oops.
But other than that it was good fun!

I had my 3rd driving lesson yesterday (yep, learning to drive a stick!) which was fun. I get to drive a Mini! My instructor, Graham, is so unflappable and laid back that if he was any more laid back, he'd be laying down. Which is good. He doesn't "grab the handle" or over react if I make a mistake. I've been out in mainstream traffic now, so today I asked Tim if he'd take me out driving to get extra practice. He did very well. He only grabbed the handle once and never shouted, didn't scream "Mommy" which was positive. And we're still married! No, seriously, he was encouraging and said that I knew everything I needed to know, just need to be confident. So that was encouraging. :-)

I can't wait to start making our flat Christmassy! I need some twinkle lights, my Christmas ornaments from TX, some holly branches, and also to do some seasonal baking... Mom just sent me a bunch of our traditional family recipes. Yummmm......

Current Mood: Mmmm... Buckeyes....
Current Music: My husband's voice! (Awww, shucks!)

2006-12-04T12:20:00.000Z

My Life This Week...

-Last Navs meeting of the semester (for which I'm cooking as usual)
-Lunch with Dayspring, a friend from my old church St. Columba's
-Dinner with my friend Claire (in Choir)
-4 Choir concerts (www.rudsambee.org.uk)
-Hanging out with Tim-Bo
-Dinner with my soon-to-be-12-year-old friend Lydia
-Breakfast with my old flatmate Jude
-A 2 hour driving lesson!!!
-An open house for Aften, a friend going on a mission trip
-Making/buying Christmas gifts
-Somehow fitting WORK in there as well
-And volunteering at CAB, which I have to go to now

AGH!

Current Mood: Enjoying the sun despite the HAZARDOUS high winds
Current Music: Jesu, Son Most Sweet and Dear - Rudsambee

2006-11-19T19:36:00.000Z

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay so it's a bit early, but today was the day Tim and I could celebrate. So we cooked 2 chickens , 5 kilograms of potatos, some cornbread and a bag of black beans, and at it all ourselves. Okay, just kidding, we ended up having 16 people over for lunch in the end (the party kind of grew... we were even adding people at 1 O'clock today!) And they each brought a side dish to supplement the meal. Our last guests stayed til about 6:30 tonight, and it was SUCH a wonderful day! We got up at 7ish to start cooking and went to church, then came back and finished everything off. We loved it, and it was actually so easy to do, Tim and I said to eachother tonight that we should definitely do it more often. (I also thought to myself More Power To Catriona Lamont - the minister's wife at my previous church, St. Columba's - who does this single-handedly every blimmin' week.)

I was really praying that it wouldn't be JUST a day of eating (as Thanksgiving in America can typically be) but a really blessed day where peoples' relationships are deepened, and they leave encouraged and closer to God. I have to say, thanks to the Lord, I really think that happened. I saw a few significant conversations going on, and could tell that people were truly blessed by the community gathered in this house. I'm so thankful to Him. It reminds me of one day in my Texas home, many years ago, when Mom and Dad put on a Thanksgiving lunch, and we ended up collecting a selection of strays who didn't really have plans. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is cool, this is how I want to live life." (Lord, please give me eyes to see more clearly those opportunities to love people better in your Name around me.)

Music: When I Was Drinking - Hem
Mood: Mmmmmmmm....

2006-11-12T18:59:00.000Z

Adventures Ahoy!!!

Well, today my mom, dad, and baby sis have embarked on an amasing adventure. They are going to INDIA for 2 weeks! The reason it's so amasing is that my sister, Skylar, will get to see her birthplace for the first time in her memory. They'll fly in to Mumbai, then go to Pune(and get to visit BSSK, the childrens' home where Sky was for her first 10 mos), Lonavala (birthtown), Dheli, Agra(Taj Mahal!) and Srinigar (we have close family friends that live and work there).

Skylar has always seemed extra-special to me because she is from India. Had the turn of events been different, she might not have been my sister. But I'm so glad she is - God sure knew what He was doing. I wish I could be with her as she goes to see this strange and yet familiar land. The preciousness of it is almost beyond words, and I can't wait to hear what her experience of it was like.

Love you Sky. Have a blast.

-Sis

2006-11-06T16:26:00.000Z

Monday, Monday...

The weekend was nice. Worked Saturday morning and evening. In between I went to part of a training day for the Navs students which was helping them to think about what the core nugget of their beliefs as Christians are (known as The Gospel), and how they would communicate that briefly. I wasn't there for the bit where they went on to the Royal Mile and asked other people what they believed... I think they got allsorts. The students asked these acquaintances what things were most important in life, what they wanted to have accomplished by the end of their life, what they thought happened after death, who or what God was to them, etc...
Very interesting the responses! I don't people generally put much thought in to recognising and being able to communicate what their core beliefs are.

Sunday, we went to church at MBC and the sermon was definitely challenging: Matthew 6 says your heart is wherever your treasure is, so what is your stewardship of your money telling you? I had no idea that, after "The Kingdom", Jesus spoke more about MONEY than anything else! That is huge, and we don't challenge ourselves on that enough.
For Sunday lunch we went to the Wexlers', a couple from my choir, for curry. It was really nice to get some good time to chat with them. And in the evening we had our next-but-one-door neighbours Kris and Sarah over for tea and games. I love having friends so close by - it reminds me of Mom and Dad's stories of living next door to some friends, the DeVries', including late night card games, etc... :-)

Current Mood: Gearing up for Navs!
Current Music:... Nothing particularly. That's unusual!

2006-10-28T15:07:00.000+01:00

Photos from our Kosova-European Tour! Sorry it's taken a while, but now here's a little taste of our trip with Tim's parents, Alan and Mary, through Kosova-Macedonia-Albania-Greece-Northern Italy-Austria-Germany-Holland-England-Scotland!

Prizren, one of Kosova's most beautiful and historic towns.
Traditional Albanian dancing (on the left) and music (on the right) at our dasma, or wedding party, thrown by Alan and Mary for their Kosovan friends! Albanian dancing + Scottish dancing = jump in the swimming pool fully clothed to cool off! Tim is dancing in his wedding suit behind the dancing guy in the stripy shirt...
Yours truly, dancing with friends at the end of the Dasma
With our friends the Berisha family!
Tim & Pup in Albania (only moments before Bessy, the Packers' faithful Volvo station wagon would get stuck at an off-road, deserted beach!)
An old monastery in Albania
Who invited those weirdos?!
Venice!
More Venice :-)
In Kolne with the Boeker familyOn ferry back home to the UK, exhausted
With the Whittaker family in Northallerton, where Tim spent his teen years. Yeah, we'd pretty much lost it by that point!

2006-10-13T16:36:00.000+01:00

AL wuz here.

So last weekend I was in the Lakes District. My choir, Rudsambee, were singing with another band in Cockermouth, which is where Wm. Wordsworth was born. Can you see from this photo how he would have been inspired to such grand poetry? :-) It was lots of good fun. Here were interesting things about the trip:
1. Travelling in the car with Frances, the choir director. She's lovely and hilarious!
2. Frances' driver-side windshield wiper stopped working... the rain was chucking it down!
3. My lovely host couple, David and Bridget! To my delight, they adopted me for the weekend.
4. The tour they took me on around the Lakes District
5. Singing (duh)... for those of you in the know, remember the "Whistle Daughter, Whistle" song which I sang at my wedding reception? Well we sang it again this time, and the guy who arranged the piece was in the audience! No pressure...
6. Our meal at the Ostrich farm on the return journey (including sheep's milk ice cream!) and shortly thereafter passing a cafe car park containing at LEAST 100 Harleys.
7. And then running over a poor little pheasant who was too stupid to stay off the road. Oops!

Current Mood: Chirpy
Current Music: Tim strumming Ol' Bess (my guitar)

2006-10-06T10:23:00.000+01:00

Got some new shoes...

What do you think? :-)

2006-09-29T15:56:00.000+01:00

GOT MY VISA!!!

Well folks, the postman rang the buzzer 4 times yesterday!
1. Passport and Visa
2. My birthday package from my parents and Skylar
3. Tim's Open University study books
4. Tim's cell phone

I can't decide whether I'm more excited about getting my visa or my BIRTHDAY present! :-)
So yesterday I went to get a national insurance number (aka social security) and today I went to my new employers to start picking up shifts. They're desperate for workers so they were already trying to get me to do too much. But I know how to say no. Now I'll just have to actually SAY it.

Tim and I are away this weekend, helping to train the Navs small group leaders, and then I'll be 24 on Monday! I think we're actually going to 'celebrate' more on Tues b/c my Birthday is full of CAB and Navs. And it's on a Super Tuesday as well.

Current Mood: Navs-Weekend-ish
Current Music: I Hate Everything (But You) - Derek Webb

2006-09-24T23:21:00.000+01:00

Whew...

Well the concert went really well!!! Thanks for those of you who sent encouraging emails or comments. We ended up having the best crowd we'd had in a while: around 60 people came!! Miriam, a girl in my Navs group, couldn't come so she made a flapjack with dried fruit and chocolate for the interval refreshments, which went down a treat! Everyone kept saying "tell your friend that's the most amazing flapjack I've ever tasted!" Not to toot our own horn, but we sang very well, the second half entirely by heart (which is a challenge considering we rarely sing in English) although with that horrible lighting it was hard to connect with the audience.

One couple who I'd given a flier to at the Farmer's Market came, and I said hello before we started. After the concert, they sought me out and said "Thank you so much for letting us know about this! We're going to keep tabs on your choir and come to other concerts." Fab! By the way, the smoked kippers tent was where they were smoking fish and selling their products. It's like a smoke house, but no house, so the smoke blew all on me. They say if the smoke keeps blowing on you, someone's thinking about you....? :-)

Tim spoke very well about Bethany - thanks again for the prayers! I could tell he was nervous (and I was nervous for him) because I know him, but everyone else didn't think he was nervous at all. It was great. Afterwards, though, at the pub, our director announced she was leaving the choir after our Christmas concerts. She said that, having had such a great concert, it confirmed her decision that she's brough the choir as far as she can and it needs a change from her. Plus she wants to pursue other types of music. Which I can understand, after having been director for 7 years, and in the choir for years before that. I think she'd be great, just singing and playing the guitar to Scottish folk tunes. Very sad for us, though.

Starting first proper day at CAB (Citizens' Advice Bureau) tomorrow. Last Monday was just a 2 hour intro. Very excited! Still no sign of a visa (hence no sight of starting my paid job. grrr!!)
First Navs pod night tomorrow as well. Wa-hey!

Current mood: Time for bed.
Current Music: Fall Silent - Five O'Clock People

2006-09-23T13:24:00.000+01:00

Choir Concert Tonight!!!

Tonight my choir, Rudsambee, will be performing at St. Martin's Church in Dalry at 7:30pm. Website: www.rudsambee.org.uk

Every year we do one concert in aid of some charity, and this year I plugged for Bethany Christian Trust (website www.bethanychristiantrust.com). At the interval my own dear Timothy is doing a 5 min chat about Bethany, which should be good. The only bad things are the fact that not many people have bought tickets yet, which is very unusual for our choir, and also the fact that the lighting at this particular church is pretty much a gigantic interrogation lamp hanging from the ceiling. So we're all going to look really scary and shadowy meaning we'll have to smile extra big.

Today I stood out at the farmer's market near the castle handing out fliers... just down wind of the smoked kippers tent. (Cough, hack!) So I hope I can still sing tonight!!

2006-09-17T00:15:00.000+01:00

You'd Think I'd Have Learned...

Well, Mom, I did it again.

When I was 5 or so, I was cutting a sheet of paper in to little bits of confetti. An early sign of my insanity. It eventually became clear that my long brown hair was an obstruction to this most fastidious pasttime, so I of course solved the problem by cutting the front and side portions of my hair off to a satisfactory level. It suited me just fine, but when Mom woke up, she was not happy. She cried.

This was the day before I was going to have a photo portrait made at good ol' Olan Mills.

Here it is, 19 years later. Yesterday I decided that my bangs were getting to a rather uncomfortable and unattractive level. No, patiently growing them out is not the sensible option.
Unfortunately the sharpest scissors we have in the house are rather dull kitchen shears that are good for cleaving some chicken breast apart, but that's about it. Did that stop me? Of course not.

I'll give myself some credit when I say that the bangs look pretty good now. Better than before and at a reasonable, if not jaunty, length. The problem came when I decided that the long layers of my hair were looking a bit frazzled. "Just a wee trim," I thought to myself. Moments later I emerged from the bathroom with my hair in braids. Let's just say that I'll be going to the hair dresser's on Wednesday morning (which was the soonest available appointment). Don't worry, it's nothing drastic. I lost only maybe an inch off the longest layers at the front. Maybe 2... As far as that area, I wouldn't even give myself the credit of saying it looks like I did it with kitchen shears. Nay, it looks more like I took hedge trimmers to it!

The good thing about hair is that it grows back. Poor kid.

Current Mood: Fine.
Current Music: That bouncy ball song(?) - Jose Gonzales

2006-09-16T01:21:00.000+01:00

A Cry for Help As Another Election Looms...

This is going to seem really random, but it's a slightly cheeky (although genuine) cry for help so here it goes! :-)
With another U.S. election looming in dim view (I think it's for senate, governor and ... house?), I'm realizing that yet again I have no idea who to vote for, or even who's the pickins. I don't want to stereotypically vote Republican just because I'm from Texas; I want to make an attempt at understanding things! I tried to get online and do some research but it just all seems like propaganda, as though they're trying to say very similar things in order to be "popular". So, I thought I would ask for some advice.

If you have a sec, please post a comment or e-mail me regarding the following:
What websites can you think of that will tell me the facts I need to know, hopefully on the somewhat less outrageously biased side of things, in order to make an educated vote about TX governor, senator, etc? I also welcome personal opinions (also hopefully not outrageously biased). :-)

I even tried to draw up an excel chart to make it clearer but now it's 1am and I'm getting a bit frayed... it's not for lack of trying!

Current Mood: Confused...
Current Music: Some crazy guy from a nearby psychiatric hospital, banging his drum down the road (yes, it IS 1am, but it probably doesn't make a difference to him!)

2006-09-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

Now, before you jump to conclusions...

Isn't this a great pic of my family? No, my brother Aaron hasn't regressed to the age of 6 months, and no, my mother hasn't had a 'surprise baby', thank goodness! It's a friend's kid. But aren't they lovely? I hope I'm as pretty as my mom when I'm at her point in life. :-)

Not much going on at the moment... just because I got a job doesn't really mean anything because I'm still waiting for my... drumroll, please... VISA!!!! What a surprise. Everyone keeps saying to me 'but shouldn't you be able to just work straightforwardly once you marry a British National?' and my reply is generally along the lines of, 'well, that's what you'd think, isnt' it?' So anyway it could be any time from October to Christmas before I can work. So, I'm thinking about what to do with all my time! At the end of the month I will be starting the Citizens' Advice Bureau training course which will take place on 1 1/2 days of the week. So... Navs will have an extra team member again for a while! :-) Tryin to mentally re-shift gears again.

Just found out that 2 of my friends, Sara Phillips (from TX) and Teresa Edwards (from Hamilton, near Glasgow) are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and know eachother! I LOVE random connections like that! :-) She also met my friend Adam (Glasgow again) who was there this summer to see Teresa.

Tim's on night shifts this week, which makes for interesting schedules. During the day it's strange for me, because he's home, but we can't talk or do anything together because he's sleeping! He was actually able to stay awake last night, and sleep all day today, so that's a blessing. 1 down, 6 to go. Zzzzz.....

Current Mood: Sleepy
Current Music: Night Like a River - Hem (Just got their CD 'Rabbit Songs' today!!)

2006-09-02T14:33:00.000+01:00

So I tried to do something new...

Spurred on by Lyd's recent blog about change, I thought I'd re-jig my site. Not only did I lose all my links to friends' sites and the ability for you to leave comments, but I'm also too tired to figure out how to fix it. Neither can I figure out how to put a photo on the site bit (as opposed to putting a photo in a post)... Igh... So until it's fixed I guess you'll have to do something like send me an E-MAIL! Which would be no bad thing.

Aaron! Help!!! :-)

Current Mood: Waaaaahhh...
Current Music: Waaaaaahhhh!!

2006-08-30T09:26:00.000+01:00

Got a job...

So Monday I filled out and returned an application (by hand) to a potential employer called Aspen Hamilton, which is a care agency for people who need a bit of help to stay independent in their own homes. Yesterday morning someone from the office called and said "come in for an interview today" and phoned back half an hour later to say "assuming all goes well, can you start training tomorrow?" (!) So I had the interview (thank goodness for that stint volunteering in Hillcrest Hospital's physical therapy department!) and got the job on the spot. So I'm starting today.

Kind of a shock because it happened all so fast. Not to mention the fact that my passport is away getting renewed and then as SOON as I get it back, it will be getting sent STRAIGHT off again to get my new residence permission document... so they've only seen a photocopy of my passport and marriage certificate. I guess they're desperate for employees.

I'm not jumping up and down, but it will finance us while I get experience in welfare advice work at the Citizen's Advice Bureau (volunteer work) and will be good people experience... something future employers will find easier to understand than Navs!

So we'll see what happens. I'm going to be working alot. Including 2 evenings per week, which isn't ideal, but I think it will have to be that in order to make ends meet, since 2 days per week (for the first 3 months, then maybe 1 day after that) will be given to volunteering at C.A.B. I will get 2 days off each week though, and it means that one day per week Tim and I will have together with no other commitments, and the other free day I can use for meeting Navs people.

I keep thinking, "Lord, did I do the right thing? What if I hate all of this? I wonder if I'll be embarassed telling people that I am doing work like this, which takes virtually no qualifications and isn't exactly glamorous, after I'm used to being a 'local leadership team member of a worldwide student organization'?"... but as I left the interview yesterday, slightly bewildered, I just had a sense of, "this is the Lord's provision." So I'm gonna go with that.

Current Mood: 'Nuff said.
Current Music: Painting Pictures of Egypt - Sara Groves

2006-08-22T13:11:00.000+01:00

Back Out of the Saddle Again...

Sunday night Tim and I just got back from going to visit his parents in Kosovo. We stayed with them in Pristina, the capital city, where they threw us another huge wedding party to introduce their local friends to us... what a party! Lots of Albanian and Scottish dancing, loud music, and it ended with the men jumping into a swimming pool with their suits on (led by Tim of course)!

After just over a week there we began an 8 day drive down through Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, then got a ferry up the Adriatic Sea to Venice, drove through the mountains of northern Italy, through Austria, Germany and Holland, got another ferry down the channel to England, drove up through England and back to Edinburgh! What a trip. It was loads of fun and I saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world I've ever seen.

Pretty tired now and still unemployed! Agh! Oh well, I know it will take some time. It's actually good that I don't have a job right now... it means I can use this time to get everything sorted after our trip.

I loved seeing the photos of Lael's wedding and Charissa's new baby on the Loft website. As wonderful as it is to be here, sometimes I can't help but feel that I am majorly missing out on other things.

Current Mood: Waves of nostalgia
Current Music: Live jazz guitar music wafting through the window - The musician outside the new Mark's & Spencers which just opened around the corner today

2006-07-31T17:42:00.000+01:00

Well I figured I oughtta post!!

Exhausted! Went to Jude and Angus' wedding on Friday at Morningside Baptist, and then partied until about midnight. I love ceilidhs but they are so exhausting, especially if you have a double-whammy like we did...

The following day we got up at 6:30 am and drove to Aberdeenshire where I sang in (and Tim operated the sound equipment for) Jennie and Dave's wedding (at a CASTLE no less!) and partied again til 1am. The bride and groom's first dance was INCREDIBLE! They swing-danced to 'Face the music and dance'. We got to see Mark and Jenny Stirling again, which was lovely, and their 13 year old daughter Catriona was one of the bride's maids (she said when she came down the aisle, that was only the 2nd time she'd seen Mark cry!) Awww...

Now we're returning to normal life as I nurse my ceilidh bruises and midgie bites. Currently reading Siberian Light by Robin White... it's set in Siberia (duh) and centres round the murder of a rich man and 2 militia men, lots of coverups, KGB, etc. It's pretty slow and dull right now, but I'm going to hang on til the end!

We are having burritos tonight!!! Yum. Can't wait.

Current Mood: Chipper... and hungry...
Current Music: Begin the Beguine - Duke Ellington