A mill & the swan!

Since Jeff and I were sick (and are still sick...........yes going on a week now) we decided going to Stirling over the weekend would not be the best idea. It's two hours away and we were wanting to take the train. And when you don't feel good, the last thing you want to do is travel two hours away and be "stuck on someone else's schedule" for the return. So we'll try again another weekend..........

The days seem to be okay though. It's when it starts getting dark and we laid down to go to sleep that we both have relapses and feel like we aren't getting any better. And Friday it snowed, so of course we are having some chilly weather. But we had some great sunshine on Saturday and Sunday. So taking advantage of the few hours we did feel good on Saturday, we decided to get out and see the Benholm Mill, by our house. It's not a working mill anymore, but it was up until the 1980's. It's right down the road from our house and we have never been down there to walk around, so we thought we'd check it out. During the spring and summer they are open a few days a week to the public. They have a little museum, as well as a tea room. It's closed right now, but still, it's pretty neat to see the old mill.

The sign in the car park (parking lot) of The Mill

The Mill is kind of down in a Valley, so this is a view as we were walking down the path from the parking lot

A better view of the stream. This same stream runs under the bridge next to our house

This is the view from the other side, the way you walk down to the mill

We walked around there for a bit and I snapped a few pictures. We are going to try and go back in the spring or summer, when the weather is better and they are open! So if we do, I'll follow up on this story.

After we left the mill we headed to Montrose to hit the hardware store for a few items. On the way we were thinking we might see if we can find a place to have lunch. You have to keep in mind that finding a place to have lunch around here isn't an easy task. You can't just drive down a road and find a ton of restaurants and half of them aren't well advertised or easy to locate. So we were driving around Montrose looking for a place to eat and we came across a duck pond on the back side of one of the links (golf) courses. We had to stop and check it out because I seen the biggest swan I have ever seen in my life! There were two of them but one of them was really just pretty and had the biggest wings! There were a couple of kids out there feeding them and one of the girls even dared to try and pet the swan. It kind of just ran off and got back in the water. So pretty and was a nice surprise to see something like that just driving around.

Both of the swans, and one of the girls feeding them....and all the ducks!

This might not seem like a big swan, but it's the biggest one I've ever seen!

Jeff said it was posing for me because it stopped and turned and looked straight at me after I took this picture. I think it was wanting to know if I had food!

A bigger picture of the duck pond. Montrose didn't get quite as much snow as we did but it was still pretty cold!

See.............so we didn't hit Stirling, but we did see a couple things we'd not seen before!
Oh and you know...........we never did find a place to eat.........so we just came back home after we hit the hardware store and heated up soup. lol

Rules of the "Resolution"

At what point do you consider that you have broken your New Years Resolution(s)? Are there rules on this? Do you have all year to resolve to do the things you said you were going to do? Just curious because..........correct me if I am wrong...........but wouldn't it be considered a "bad thing" if before the end of January you had to go back and look to see WHAT your New Years Resolutions were?!

And when, if ever is it okay to make excuses for why you've not started or completed or keep doing your New Years Resolutions?
Well, never mind..............the simple truth is..........I did have to go back and look to see what all three of my resolutions were. I could remember two of them, but not the third one. And while I started out strong and heavy into the New Year, I lost momentum by the time I got to mid January. I have a ton of excuses if you'd like to hear them?!

Okay, okay.............enough with excuses and putting them off. I'm getting back to all of them starting today. Okay..well maybe not today.......maybe tomorrow? I will........I promise! I want to accomplish all three of them, so I will!

On a side note, Jeff and I have both been sick. But..........if we are feeling better by tomorrow afternoon I am going to make arrangements for us to head down to Stirling on Saturday. It's about a two hour drive and a little less than that by train. So we thought it might be fun to take the train down and see Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument. You know.....Braveheart.........
If something happens and we aren't feeling better then I'll push it off, but not for long. We'll try again later in February. It's hard to find a good weekend to do that and plan it because Jeff's been working offshore a lot lately, but if we can't go this weekend then we'll hopefully find a good weekend in February to go. And when we do go, I'll post plenty of pictures and try and write something up to give you a good idea of what it's like and what all we did. So stay tuned!

The busy months ahead

Good news!!! I should have something fun to write about in the coming months! We got a busy couple of months ahead of us. So I'm hoping to see some new stuff, take some great pictures and write about some parts of Scotland and some experiences we haven't had yet.
It's been so cold and the daylight hours are so short it's hard to get out and about and see things and take pictures.
We had sleet last night and I am hearing that we might get some bad weather this weekend. So we'll see what the weekend holds. Regardless, its cold so I am thinking about putting on a pot of seafood stew this weekend for us to have for dinner one night.

So with spring right around the corner and a busy couple of months ahead, there should be lots to write about (crossing my fingers). I've been looking into a mystery murder dinner at a local hotel and restaurant for us to try and do in March. And we also have our trip to Dublin in March for St. Patrick's day! In February we have a couple of outings planned to a nice local Italian restaurant and we are also going to try and attend a Mardi Gras party being hosted by some Louisiana folks that are living and working here in Aberdeen too! Jeff and I will also be celebrating our one year anniversary at the end of February. I mention this because we are planning to have dinner at an Art Deco restaurant in Stonehaven. We've heard great things about this place and think it will be fun to go check it out for our anniversary dinner.
And before we know it spring will be upon us! I personally am looking forward to the longer days of daylight and hoping to really get out and see some more places as the spring trees and flowers start to bloom. I hear that the roadsides and hills are gorgeous right at the beginning of spring and are covered with flowers. I'll be sure to get some good shots of this!

You'll notice off to the left that I put up a new poll. After the poll about our next holiday I thought it would be fun to just try and do something a little different and post different polls for fun. I'll try and change them up about once a month and I'll try and keep them related to Scotland or the "experience" here in some form or fashion.
Oh and Italy won.....by a landslide on the last poll. So I'm looking at some cruises that stop off at several places in Italy. I think it'll be the best way for us to really see a lot of Italy and hit some of the high points without us spending a great deal of time traveling by car. And hey......sitting on the deck of a cruise ship or chilling doing some fun things while in transport is NOT a bad way to travel! ;)

Off the beaten Path - Talking Sushi!

So I'm gonna get off the beaten path here a bit and talk about something that's not really all about Scotland. I mentioned on my Facebook page the other night that Jeff and I were making sushi. A few people send me messages in one form or another asking how to make sushi. So I thought I would write a little "How To" for those that are interested in making sushi at home. It's really a lot of fun if you enjoy time in the kitchen and once you get all the stuff prepped, it's fun to do as a family or a couple or even a date night type thing! Honest......it's fun! The best part about making sushi is that you can really make whatever you want in it. It doesn't have to be raw fish. For those that don't like raw fish............sushi can be made with all ingredients that are cooked or okay to eat raw.
Jeff and I are no sushi chefs, by no means. We both just really love sushi and a few years ago we got a book on how to make it and just thought it would be fun. Then we moved to Scotland and it's not easy to find here. For the longest time there was only one sushi restaurant here and now there is two in Aberdeen. But still, making it at home can be so much fun!

Okay so lets get started. I'll start with the things you will need to make it.
The most important part of making sushi is rice! It's key! And the rice must be sticky to really hold it all together. A lot of grocery stores carry sushi rice now. You can usually find it on either the Asian aisle or you can find it on the rice aisle.



But don't worry, if your local supermarket doesn't carry sushi rice, just look for either short grain or medium grain rice. Long grain rice will work in a pinch but not near as well as short or medium grain.

You'll also need Nori. This is the dark green seaweed paper. Don't freak out if you think seaweed is gross. It's very mild in flavor and honestly............it doesn't taste bad. You can find Nori on the Asian aisle as well. If you can't find it at your local supermarket then maybe look at a speciality store like World Market or some place like that. (Doug if you are reading this........I'm almost certain you guys can find it at Brookshire Bros on Rice Road. Plus they usually have a pretty good selection of fish to put in your sushi.)

Nori aka seaweed paper

You'll also need some rice wine vinegar and some saki. It's hard to say where you'll find the rice wine vinegar, but look on either the Asian aisle again or maybe with the other vinegars. You can get a small bottle of saki and it will last you a while since the recipe I am going to give you only calls for 1/4 cup. And you'll need some regular old sugar.

Rice wine vinegar, sugar and Saki

On a side note.....if making sticky rice isn't your thing........a lot of times if there is a sushi restaurant in the area, you can call them up and just get some sticky rice to go. But to me, it's fun to make the sticky rice at home and it's easy to work with when it's warm.

Okay........aside from those things you will need ingredients for the inside of your rolls. Pick the things you like and slice them thin and long. We used things like avocado, cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon, toasted sesame seeds (for the outside of a few of the rolls), tuna (if you can find it, yellow fin tuna is the best.......especially if it's fresh), jalapenos, crab meat and spicy mayo. Spicy mayo is really simple to make if you can't find it and it's key to spicy tuna rolls. All you need is some real mayo (Hellman's) and some of the red rooster red chili sauce you find in the Asian section of your store and a little lemon juice. Put a couple good tablespoons of mayo in a bowl, then squeeze a little lemon in it (about 1/4 of a lemon) and add chili sauce to taste. Remember the red chili sauce is pretty spicy and a little goes a long ways. So add a little, mix it and then taste, then add a little more if you like it hotter.

We had a lot of extras, but here is all our fillers for the rolls
(remember to keep thin long slices of what you put inside)

Also you'll need a sushi rolling mat. And you'll want to cover this mat with cling wrap to keep from getting the rice in between the parts of the mat. We didn't have any cling wrap and I didn't realize it, so we used wax paper, and it worked okay, but cling wrap works better.

Sushi rolling mat

Okay..........so we have all of our ingredients and now we want to make the rice. I've heard that sushi rice is really best when cooked in a rice cooker. I have no idea if that is really true or not but we use a rice cooker because...........well Jeff really wanted one a few years ago and bought one. lol But if you don't have one, I don't think it's a problem to cook it on the stovetop. With sushi rice though, cook it in 1 to 1 portions. I cook 4 cups of rice to 4 cups of water. Sounds like a lot but depending on how much sushi you want will depend on how much to make. It takes roughly half a cup, or a little more to make one sushi roll. Rinse your rice really well before cooking it. Rinse it several times and try and get the water running off of it as clear as you can. People thing you are cleaning off the starch that makes it sticky but you aren't, trust me, it will be plenty sticky! Especially if you use actual sushi rice.
Get your rice cooking. Rice cookers usually tell you when the rice is done and on the stovetop you'll just have to monitor it. I think once you bring it to a boil and simmer it, probably only take about 20 to 30 minutes to absorb all the water.


In the mean time, while your rice is cooking, add to a pot 1 cup of rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of saki and 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir and dissolve sugar over a low heat. You don't want it to boil but you just want it to dissolve. Keep in mind this recipe is for the 4 cups of rice you are cooking. So if you make more or less rice you'll need to adjust this recipe. Once your sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
While it's cooling I usually use this time to start slicing my ingredients that I am going to use inside the sushi roll. And remember, a little goes a long ways. So if you cut up to much you'll have lots left over.

Okay, so once your rice is done you want to turn it into a large mixing bowl. It'll be very sticky already and it sticks to everything! Try and use either a wooden or glass mixing bowl, not a metal one. I've read that the rice vinegar can sometimes have a reaction to the metal bowl. And you'll want to use a wooden spoon as well. Pour the rice vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in. Try not to be to rough with the rice and try not to mash it. Just fold it in gently and then let it set for about 10 minutes while you finish prepping. After ten minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and your rice should be super sticky. Give it one more good fold and you are ready.

Work with your rice while it's hot and use it while it's warm
(Pouring the vinegar mixture over the rice)

Okay so here we go with the fun. Lay your mat out on a nice flat surface with room to work. Lay down a piece of Nori on the mat. You'll want to leave the smooth side facing down and the more rough part facing up. Then spread some rice over the nori with the wooden spoon. Leave a nice edge at the top with no rice, about 1/2 and inch or so.

This was my first roll and I forgot to leave my top edge with no rice......so as a result I had rice squeezing out of the top on this roll.
(this picture is from the side because I couldn't get good lighting)

Then closest to you put your ingredients in one nice long strip, and beside each other and on top, trying to kind of keep it compact. Don't put to much because if you do then your rolls will be really big and fat, and harder to use with chop sticks, plus harder to eat in one easy bite.

Again, I had to take the picture from the side. The top of the roll is actually to the left and the bottom of which you roll is from the right.

This is just another roll, that Jeff was making with spicy mayo
(he made the same mistake I did on the first roll, not leaving an edge with no rice)

Once you have your ingredients in there then pick up the edge of the mat closest to you, then nice and tight (but not to firm) start rolling it away from you. Make one nice roll over and then pull the edge of it up a bit so that you can continue rolling without the mat getting in the way. Kind of like this.

You want to kind of keep it firm and roll it tight, but not to tight that the ingredients pop out the sides.

If you pull your mat back, this is what your roll should look like at this point.

But keep rolling it over!

Once you have it nice and rolled up, you can roll the mat back out and seal the seam of your roll with a little water on your finger tips. The water on the fingertips and running it along the seam is the key to keeping the roll intact so it doesn't fall open on you will you are cutting it.

This is what it should look like all rolled up and sealed

So when you are ready to slice it you take a nice sharp knife and you dip it in a cup of water.

Use a tall cup to get your knife in there good and get the blade wet!

Then slice the ends off. You'll want to dip your knife before each cut. Don't worry about the water, just kind of shake the blade off a little but you need the moisture to keep a clean cut. Now we rarely keep the end pieces because they aren't pretty and usually lack ingredients. The next slices you make are the ones you want to keep.

See the end pieces aren't full of ingredients so they want to just sort of smash down

Make thin cuts so its easy to eat in one bite (this one could have stand to be a little thinner) but not to thin that they want to fall apart. Your ingredients will fall out if you make them to thin.

Okay, so lets talk about the rolls that have the rice on the outside. Same principal, lay the nori down and put a layer of rice on it. This time you'll want to cover all the nori, leaving very little free edges. Very carefully pick up the nori with the rice on it and flip it over. Putting the rice on the bottom and the nori on top. Okay, now back to the basics of placing your ingredients on the roll (just on top of the nori this time) and then roll. I toasted sesame seeds in a pan and sprinkled them on the roll when I was done. And on one of them I put slices of smoked salmon on top. Be creative and have some fun with it. That's the best thing about making sushi at home is that you can make it your own, experiment.

Here's the roll with the rice on the outside. Sorry I forgot to take a picture with the nori flipped over, but I think you get the idea.

This is the roll I put smoked salmon on the top of it, just kind of draped over the slices.

So there you have it! I know it sounds like a lot to do but trust me, once you get the hang of it you'll love it and it's really something Jeff and I have fun doing. Of course there's fun in going out and having someone else prepare it for you, but this is fun for families and date nights or having friends over, get the family or friends in the kitchen and everyone make some sushi.

This was 4 cups of rice and it made about 7 rolls. Plenty to feed about 4 people for a meal. Or appetizers for a party.

I hope I did a good job of trying to give a "How To" but if something isn't clear, or if you aren't sure about something, maybe I missed something, or it just doesn't sound right, send me a message or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to clarify.
I hope some of you will feel inspired and give it a try. It's pretty healthy and like I said before, you don't have to eat the raw fish to have sushi. Use some crab meat or shrimp (anything like this should be cooked.....just fyi) and add a little cucumber and cream cheese. One of my favorites is to add a little piece of sliced jalapenos (deseeded of course for those that like it mild). Next time we make it I want to try to add a little piece of slightly cooked and blanched asparagus to one as well.

Next post I promise will be about Scotland again. :)

The Post that no one wants to read......or believe!

Yes, it's true........this is the post that no one really wants to read or believe is true. This is the post that kind of brings a little reality to the situation and brings forth the concept that things aren't always peachy and rosy when living in the rolling green hills of Scotland. Sorry folks........but now and then you have to have a post like this..........it's life......it's reality............just the way it is.

So what have I been up too lately? I've been busy and haven't blogged in several days and the posts have been kind of bland........haven't they? We haven't really traveled much lately, (but hey Jeff has to work some time) and I've not been taking very many interesting photos lately. So what gives.......you ask? It's cold, it gets dark early, it's snowy, Jeff's working a lot and so he's offshore a lot, and well..............things are a little drab. Things get a little old and redundant, even in the land of rolling green hills! And I've really been longing for someone to talk to that "gets it". It's nothing against my family and friends back home or even the friends I've made here. But unless you've really kind of been in this situation, it's hard to understand. It's even hard for Jeff to understand my side of the situation because while we've both moved and have this big adventure together, he's still very much involved in his career and he interacts with people on a daily basis. Me, I spend more time interacting with Simba, Rhett and Audrey than I do anyone else. Okay............don't make it sound like I am crazy cat lady or that I am pathetic................blaka, blaka, blaka! It's not that boring really in my life and I stay busy doing other things........I just long for the interaction with other people. It's in my nature.......it's who I am, it's what I do.

Not that it's a bad thing hanging out with these sweet furkids. This is Audrey (the black cat) and Rhett. Audrey is the sweetest kitty and this is really one of the first times she's really kind of sit like this for me to take a good picture of her. She has really come out of her "shell" since I've been home a lot.

For those of you that personally know me.............then you know this..............I am (at least until I moved here) a very independent person. I am career minded and orientated and I love challenges of completely a job, at my best ability and like most people, I love to feel that accomplishment. I love to socialize and interact and I love to get involve in community events and help out where I can. And at the same time I love being a wife, cooking, and just being part of the life I have now. But this year a lot has changed for me. I went from being that independent, living alone and single gal that loved her job, the people she worked with and loved being able to relax on the weekends with Jeff and be part of that life too. This year I got married, quit my job to move half way across the world with my loving husband and be a housewife. We came to a country where we would know no one and have no friends and would have to start nearly from scratch.............plus newly married and living together for the first time. Okay............and then you throw in there the occasional home sickness and the general differences between living in the U.S. and living in Scotland.
Okay..............so like I said............not the post people want to read about "life in Bonnie Scotland". lol But it's the truth...............and sometimes you just have to put it out there so people at least "sort of" get it!

So what am I doing about it.........you ask? I got a word a couple of months ago that there was a women's group here in Aberdeen that was an association for Americans and Canadians living and working here. After some research I found some information on the group and how to get in touch, be a member and kind of a general synopsis of what they do. They are involved in a Charity event each year and they do several fun things throughout the year and have monthly meetings with guest speakers. They even have a "newcomers tea" to welcome new members. Sounded like a pretty good place for me to get involved and just try and meet other people "like me". I attended my first meeting yesterday. I must admit when walking in and immediately speaking to people that spoke "American", that was a breath of fresh air for me! I hadn't heard another American voice here in Aberdeen outside myself, my husband and a few people he works with (which actually are Canadians).........since I have lived here. And quickly I found that the majority of the group have husbands that work in the oil and gas industry for one company or another. I am still not quite sure where I fit into the group or if I fit into the group but I'm willing to give it a few more goes and meet a few more people and see if I can't find a few women in the group that I can relate to and hit it off with. I'm looking forward to getting involved though and hopefully doing a little to help with charity and also just enjoy some of the fun socializing events. Oddly enough, the person I did meet that I hit it off best with is from New Zealand. I found that people from all over can be part of the association and that's pretty cool too!

In closing...............see I told you it was the post that no one really wanted to hear or read. And yes, we are fortunate, we are lucky, we have this great adventure....................but this just goes to show that it's not all fun and games all the time. We have unique challenges on top of the everyday challenges that some people come across. We are still very blessed to have had this opportunity. I just wanted to kind of show the flip side of living in another country and some of the more personal challenges to over come. For me, from my eyes, I went from being independent, single and career minded...........to dependent on Jeff, married (don't get me wrong I love it) and a housewife. NEVER in all my years did I ever think I would be a housewife. Not that there is anything wrong with it........but some people are cut out for it and some people are not. I am not sure where I fall just yet.............but I am having a time adjusting and finding out!
There are days I love that we had this opportunity and there are days I am counting down the days until we can start looking toward going home. But all in all..............this has truly been an adventure to talk about in the future and something to tell our kids one day.

On a side note...............the snow has mostly melted and as did our icicle. but the last day it was still there and pretty big........the two single icicles had sort of grew together and made one big one.

I made this Irish Mint Mocha Rice pudding the other day. It was pretty tasty......for rice pudding!

The Icicle!

Okay........so I'm lagging a little behind on updating the blog. Perhaps I should have considered making one of my resolutions to update my blog more often?!?! Nah..........that would sure have been one of the first resolutions to break!

Truth be told...........I've been busy! And the one or two days since I last blogged that I wasn't busy..........well I was being lazy and catching up from all the previous days of busy! Really!

Jeff finally got to come home on New Years Eve. I had a lot of things to catch up on.........like having our New Years Day lunch, celebrating his birthday, opening Christmas presents and also having Christmas dinner. So we crammed that all in over a few days. My personal favorite was celebrating his birthday. We went into Aberdeen and had Yo Sushi (very cool place) for lunch and then went to see Avatar in 3D............then did a little shopping.........and came home for chicken fried steak, mash potatoes and river bottom gravy (what Jeff calls cream gravy) and I made some cheddar chive biscuits to go with. Plus the day before I made him a Boston Cream Pie. Frankly........I'm not good at making Boston Cream Pie........and I am deeply disappointed in myself for not being able to make Boston Cream Pie better. I pride myself on my cooking abilities and all I can say is that I must continue to practice and tweak the recipe!

Christmas dinner was great and the cornbread mix finally arrived, so we were able to have dressing. We had a ton of turkey left over............but it froze well and I've made salads with it and used a little honey mustard dressing on the salad and sprinkled it with Feta Cheese and it's fab!

Jeff carving the turkey!

Looks like we were feeding more than two. Good leftovers though!

I got some great things for Christmas! I got some kitchen stuff, some cookbooks and my favorite thing is a crystal stem ring holder to slip my rings on when I am washing dishes, cleaning, etc. I love it! And my cookbooks have inspired me to try some new recipes. Of course I am not one to just take a recipe and make it exactly as it's printed. No, I have to change some things up.........add a little of this or that.............and just kind of make it different. I don't know why I do that, but always have. I guess it's my way of inventing a taste I enjoy out of something that someone else planted the idea for.
So I found a chocolate rice pudding that calls for orange zest and orange liquor. I personally am odd in that I am one of the few people in the world that doesn't like orange and chocolate together. So I decided to change things up a little and make an Irish Mint Chocolate rice pudding. Its chilling and setting now..........so I'll have to get back to you if it was worth it and if it's a good change to the original recipe. And I know many of you are saying, "Yuck, rice pudding?" YES.......rice pudding. It's huge here...........so I figure I might as well try and make some to see if I would like it. Honestly I think people either love it or hate it, but I like tapioca pudding, so I am thinking I'll like this.

Oh and the title...........the icicle.............Jeff and I have a couple of small tree like bushes in front of the house that cover the windows to the atrium. We've got one of them that has a growing icicle on it. We keep thinking any day now that the limb is going to break, or the icicle.........but no........it keeps growing.

This was our icicle yesterday!

This is our icicle today...and it's friend!

And today I looked at it.......and we now have two icicles. Really........it's like the biggest icicle I have ever seen! I know it's hard to tell from the picture............but I think it's got to be at least 12 inches long and probably a couple inches round at the top.

The little things in life amuse me!

New Year Resolution Time!

It's that time of year again! You know the time of year where we all make some New Years Resolutions and a few of us stick to them all year around and the rest of us abandon them at some point. Some sooner than others!

I'm usually pretty good about sticking to mine for at least half of the year.......some times longer. But I'm typically not one, any more, to resolve to lose weight. I might resolve to work out more, or to eat better, or maybe even take up a new cardio as a hobby...........but rarely is it the end result of losing weight.

It's been an eventful past year, with lots of changes and huge adventures. This past year I got married, moved half way across the world, and gave up my career (for a while). I'd say that's a lot of changes for one year!
And I can honestly say that most of it has been pretty great, but not to say that it hasn't had its ups and downs. The moving part has been a bit difficult at times. It's not just moving to another part of the U.S., it's moving to a different part of the world where the culture is even different, and settling in takes on a whole new meaning. Then add to it the common things to overcome like not knowing anyone and having no family near by. But we've managed, like I knew we would and we've had a very adventurous first year of marriage.

So what to resolve for 2010? I've been thinking about it, trying to come up with reasonable, yet challenging resolutions. After all, that's the point right.........something that is possible but yet a challenge. Cause lets face it, if it were easy we would have already done it, right?

So here it is...........my resolutions for 2010......................

I workout pretty regularly and I am pretty happy with where I maintain my weight at....most of the time. However, I've struggled to try and get off an extra 10 pounds that I've wanted to get off this past year. So that's my resolutions this year.........to continue to keep up my workout routine because it's good for the body, mind and soul and to get off that extra 10 pounds that I've wanted to get off for the past year.

Second resolution is to get pretty serious about adoption. There are a lot of places that wouldn't even consider us until we had been married for at least a year. So since we are fast approaching our one year anniversary, I've decided it's time to get serious about what road we want to pursue for adoption. We won't be able to do much until we return to the states but I would at least like to have a plan by then and have the wheels in motion. It's been hard trying to figure out which direction to go and what would be the best option for us. But we talk about it a lot and we know we want to be parents. So it's something to pursue this year and get started!

And my last resolution, which is always one of my resolutions................to travel! Even if it's just down the road, around the corner or in a far away place.........travel and see things I've never seen before. I think we have a good head start on this one. We already have a trip to Ireland planned in March and it looks like from the polls that most think Italy should be the next big vacation after that. I've been looking at Cruises that visit several places in Italy. I think that would be good for us and allow us to see several places that are kind of spread out across Italy. As always, I think this resolution will be an easy one to keep and probably the most fun!

So what's your 2010 resolutions? And what's your average for keeping your resolutions? Or are you one of those few and rare folks that "resolve to have no resolutions"? :)

Merry Christmas

Growing up Christmas was always something truly to look forward to in our house. My mom use to put together the best Christmas' ever! Whether it was a big to do or a low key event, my mom always made it special and each year was always unique in one way or another.

I was very fortunate growing up that our house was almost always full on Christmas day and there was a sea of presents under the tree. And every other year we would travel to Georgia to see family on Christmas day and my mom would load up all our presents and take them with us. Often, on the 12 hour trip to Georgia we BEGGED to open a present early. Usually by the time we had reached Alabama we had wore her down. :)

And the traditions we had yearly were something that we might not have always appreciated fully at the time, but certainly looking back on it, it's traditions I would love to pass on to my kids one day.
Our traditions were things like smores on Christmas eve. And we usually got to open one present on Christmas eve. As teens and adults we got to open most of our presents on Christmas eve, and got stockings and one big present on Christmas day.
And the Christmas trees......wow........my mom could pick out a tree and make it one of the most beautiful trees you had ever seen! We use to always get flocked trees each year and they were colored in one particular color, usually different each year. One year it might be a flock tree with all red ornaments and garland on it. The next year it might be flocked with all gold ornaments and garland. Like I said, it was always a beautiful tree!

So a lot of those traditions I've tried to carry on. I especially look forward to having children one day and sharing all the fun Christmas traditions that my mom always did for us to make it special. Jeff loves Christmas, it's his favorite time of year and though we try and make it special even now...........we are particularly looking forward to when we have a family of our own to do those special Christmas' for.

I hope each of you have had a wonderful holiday season so far and not only enjoy the time of year, the family and friends.........but remember the reason for the season! We are all blessed in one way or another and while it seems that Christmas is hectic and things are busy.........try and take a moment to reflect on your life and find those particular things to be thankful for and see the blessings in your life.

Merry Christmas!

The Novelty of Snow

The creek bottom next to our house

The thing about snow is that in the beginning you really like it and it's cool to look at, cool to play in and just over all makes things look pretty and wintry. But then the novelty of it wears off and when it does..............it's just kind of there and you can't wait for spring and summer to come.

A family walking up the hill with sleds

The playground in the community nearby

For now it's still new to us and we think it's pretty and cool and fun to play in. This morning we woke up and it was snowing and we already had a few inches on the ground. So after breakfast we put on the ski bibs to stay warm, threw on some jackets and gloves and decided to snap a few pictures and play in the snow a bit.

Jeff making a snow angel

We attempted to make a snowman but the snow was so fresh and fluffy that we couldn't get it to pack together well enough to actually make the snowman. And there was just no way in the world I was about to go get water to add to make it wet enough to do something with it. So it's just a pile of snow in our front driveway.

Across the road from our house

Winter Solstice

Today is Winter Solstice, also known as the shortest day of the year. And here, in Scotland it effects us more than we were use to in Texas. In Texas.....it was just another day and rarely could one tell the difference between it and any other winter day.

So what does it mean? Basically it's the day we all look forward too, here as the turning of the days getting longer. Read about it........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice

I must admit though, I thought it would be way more dramatic than it has been. In the summer when we had summer solstice it was very noticeable. Back in the summer it wouldn't get dark until around midnight and by 2:30am the sun was coming up again. It was torturous for a person trying to get sleep and unable to sleep when it was daylight outside.
We were told the very opposite would happen in the winter. So I was expecting there to be days that we only had about 3 hours of daylight. Thankfully that didn't really happen.
Today the sun came up around 8:30 or 9:00 and it won't get dark until around 3:30 or 4:00 tonight. So that's not to terribly bad really.
The other thing was that for some reason I was expecting the darkness at night to come earlier and earlier and just the opposite happened.........the mornings came later and later.

But Winter Solstice will be behind us tomorrow and so the days will start getting longer again. I for one am looking forward to it. The one thing I did discover through this was that my body refused to get up before 8:00am each morning without a huge effort on my part to actually wake up and get out of bed. That is late for me.........as I am typically an early riser to be up by 7:00am on a morning I am sleeping in.

And though Winter Solstice is almost behind us.............there is still snow on the ground and I have a feeling the worst of it has yet to come.

Our First Snow in Scotland!

Well, it's official, we got our first snow since moving to Scotland! Jeff had came home last night telling me it was suppose to snow today, but I didn't believe it. I just figured that it would rain, as usual, and just be cold.......the norm! But to my surprise we woke up this morning and as Jeff was getting ready to leave I looked outside and there it was, snow coming down! In big flakes too! The biggest flakes I have ever seen! It was coming down so fast and in such big flakes it took just minutes for it to cover the car and cover the ground. So pretty, especially in such a small dose and so close to Christmas.

It was coming down fast and hard!

Within minutes this was the amount of snow on the car!

Had to get the car warmed up, get the snow off the windshield so Jeff could go to work.

It has snowed on and off today, but it's already started to melt and turn to slush because between the snowing, it's drizzling. I just hope it doesn't turn to a sheet of ice tonight!

Enjoy the pictures!

After the snow stopped.........the bridge in front of the house

The roadway and drive from the front door

The front of the house.......with a little snow on the roof!

Another shot of the front yard

The slope behind the house

St Paddy's Day in Ireland!

I am SO excited! We are going to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland this year!

I was doing a little research for our next big trip and came upon some inexpensive flights to Dublin. So I got to thinking that I would look and see what it would cost to go to Dublin for a few days during St. Patrick's Day. To my surprise it was still very reasonable. So then I started looking at hotels to see what the cost would be and if there was still availability. Then after Jeff and I had decided that it would be fun to go, I spoke to a friend that lived in Ireland at one time and got the skinny on the festivities during St. Patrick's Day there and the St. Patrick's Day Festival. We slept on it one night and decided it would be a grand experience to spend one St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. Might as well, right?

We are staying in town centre and a lot of things will be within walking distance! And I've looked into things like the Guinness Storehouse tour! So we are super excited and now have something to look forward to in the spring! It will be sort of an anniversary trip as well!

Okay but that's still not our next big trip that the poll to the left is for. So keep on voting...........I'm doing the homework on all the places and looking forward to seeing which place wins the polls!

When Pigs Fly!

I still can't believe Texas got snow before us!!! You know the saying, "that will happen when pigs fly"..............well my friends..........pigs must fly! I would have NEVER guessed that Texas would see snow before us and much less in December! But it's awesome, I am only sad we missed it! I am sure we will get snow soon enough and I am also sure that it will become very old very quick, unlike Texas where you can enjoy it for the day and by the next day it's melted away and things are back to normal.
I seen a lot of great pictures of it from friends and family! How awesome! Kind of made it feel more like Christmas for a change, didn't it?!?!

So it's chilly here, not getting above the 40's and often in the 30's in the evening. And all the leaves have fallen off the trees. The landscape around us has changed dramatically. I can see things that use to be covered by trees now. So before it was almost as if we were isolated, even though we aren't and now we can see all the houses around us through the bare trees. It's really quite different looking than in the summer and spring.

So all this cold weather has me thinking it's time to plan our next holiday (vacation). Jeff and I have talked multiple times about going to Italy for our one year anniversary. But I've discovered in my research that if we wait until around May to go then we can take a nice long cruise and see a lot of Italy (many cities). Which is probably more desirable than just seeing Rome or Venice, as we would like to see both! So we are trying to decide if we should wait and go in the spring or go in February or March and only see one of the cities?!?! Then there is Dubai, which we would love to visit as well. And there is also Egypt where we could see the Great Pyramids! That would be awesome as well! And of course it's a must for me to see London before I leave the UK. I can't imagine living here and having not visited London, at least once! So I'm torn what to do. Go to Italy earlier or visit one of these other places and go to Italy in the spring. What do you think? I've posted a poll off to the left and would love to get feed back! So let me know!

I'll try and get out and take some pictures soon. I know many of you want to see the pictures but we've just not been many places lately that I can take pictures of. I figure you wouldn't want to see pictures of just roads and buildings on our way to the grocery store or to run errands! But I'll try and get some shoots soon and post on some interesting site we've seen!

Fah la la la la lahhhhhhh

Tis the season!
Okay so we went out to get a tree the other night and after much consideration we decided to buy an artificial tree. We had to buy new lights this year because of the plugs here, plus we had to buy a tree stand if we bought a tree, so we decided that if we got an artificial tree that it would cost about the same as a real tree and tree stand. Plus we can use the artificial tree again next year.

We got a white tipped tree and blue LED lights. When we got home we got out all the Christmas decorations that we brought over with us and we started decorating. Wow........looks like Christmas threw up in our living room! LOL
But Christmas is Jeff's favorite holiday and so it was fun to get it all out, put it all up. Secretly I think he loves it so much because it's Christmas and then his birthday, back to back.

Everything as we dragged it all out. Rhett is a bit of a ham and likes to be in the spot light!

Pretty! We have two more stockings......we were just afraid to put them to close to the fire.

Shelve hangers, aren't they cute!!!!

We had to add a little garland to the staircase since most everything else was in the living room!

I also put together our Christmas menu yesterday. Most of the things I can get here but the things I can't get I brought back with me. I did forget one item, but Jeff's mom is kind enough to ship it over to me. So we will be having a traditional Texas Christmas dinner, complete with cornbread dressing rather than stuffing. My biggest task will be making small portions since it's just Jeff and I this year.

Looking forward to it though!

Ta Dah! Our Scotland Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving in Texas

We had a fantastic time back in Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately it wasn't long enough, but the short time we had was fun and we were happy to see everyone we got to see and just enjoy home for a bit.

We managed to see several of our families while we were there and even have dinner with some friends as well!
We got to visit the Marriott, where we got married and have breakfast in the very room we had our reception in. It was the first time we'd been back since our wedding day. So that was nice to kind of "remember" the evening.
And the Christmas lights were all up in The Woodlands. We took a walk after having some awesome sushi at Uni's and checked out the ice skaters at the ice rink they put up each year in The Woodlands.
I also got to see New Moon while I was there, and I bared Best Buy on black Friday..........but waited until around 11:00am to go! ;) It wasn't to bad, but still pretty crazy.

For all of those that we got to see............we were so happy to get to see you all and you were a cure for a little homesickness we were having. For those of you that we didn't get to see...........we are so sorry and hope that next time we visit we'll get to visit a little longer and see you all then. Just not enough hours in the day when you are home for such a short period of time.

So we are back in Scotland............trying to get over jet lag. It's hard when it gets so dark so early in the day, but we are hoping we are over it today.
And we are excited to get a Christmas tree and get that set up this week. We brought back some Christmas presents from family and plan to put them under the tree. But we got a Wii and well..............we don't exactly plan to put that under the tree. Wii Sports is pretty fun! LOL

Oh and when we left Houston on Sunday it was in the 70's and when we got back to Scotland on Monday, around 10:30am, it was 36 degrees!!!! And we woke up to ice on the ground yesterday morning. Talk about drastic change in weather!

So as soon as we get the tree up and get the house ready for Christmas, I'll snap a few pictures and post them.

Oh and just for the record............for those inquiring minds...............you bet I brought back some cans of pumpkin! ;)