The Angkor Story

So I'm off to Cambodia today and just wanted to let you know that I will be blogging at: www.theangkorstory.blogspot.com

So drop by and see what I'm up to for the next 3 weeks.

Adios!

Nary

Sunshine in the Deen

It's been a beautiful week or so in Scotland; perfect time to have visitors!

Sam & Mickey made a quick trip up here from London after visiting their brother. I love seeing familiar faces here and we had a great time. Gerald took off work on Thursday and we drove them out to Glenfiddich Distillery for some whiskey tasting, and smelling for Mickey =) Afterwards, we stopped off at Balvenie Castle for a bit of exploring. They both came prepared for some rain, and got what they wanted while visiting the castle. Despite the beautiful day, there was a short, hard down pour that we were caught in. At least they got to experience rain in Scotland...haha. The next day, I took them to Crathes Castle and Garden and we did a bit of shopping around town. Overall, the trip was short and sweet and I'm so glad we got to share a bit of our experience with them.

Turns out, we had a surprise visit from the Scott's as well. I worked with Don & Kristen at CVX, Bellaire for a few years and Don was in town for an audit, Kristen, visiting. We did a bit of hanging out Saturday night with their first Indian food experience and even had smores in Scotland at a friend's place. Sunday, I took them out to see a bit of the countryside to Pitmedden Gardens and Tolquhon Castle. We found a field of rapeseed and did a little photo shoot as well. It was an unexpected visit from them but I'm glad I got to show them around a bit. We even saw loads of sunbathers out at Aberdeen Beach! 

The weather couldn't have been any better for our visitors. I'm looking forward to our next group of visitors in June and August! I love playing tour guide.

Well, that's me for the month of June, just about. I'll be heading to Cambodia for 3 weeks this coming Thursday and will be blogging on a separate blog about my trip. As soon as I get the new blog up, I'll post it so ya'll can follow that if you want as well.

Hope all is well with everyone and looking forward to sharing my Cambodia trip with you!

Laters baby!

Salzburg

I'm continuing my post on our trip to Austria....

After a couple of days of exploring Vienna, we took the train down to Salzburg, for none other, than the Sound of Music Tour! Upon arriving in Salzburg, Gerald and I watched The Sound of Music on the iPad on our 2 1/2 hour journey through the countryside of Austria.

The train was quite interesting as all the cabins had 6 seater "pods" with a door. See below.

We thought we were going to have to share earphones to listen to the movie but we had our own private pod, all for the price of a 2nd class ticket! With our bottle of wine, snacks, and The Sound of Music blasting, riding through the Austrian countryside was fantastic. I would describe the tour for you, but since I'm short on time, I'll let the Panorama Tour group do it: http://www.panoramatours.com/salzburg-Original-Sound-of-Music-Tour.aspx

Here's a short clip of our Sound of Music Tour through the countryside of Salzburg:


Although the tour was fun, I was a bit disappointed that the tour didn't allow us to stay at each of these locations longer, but overall it was great and I recommend it. Make sure you get a window seat =)

We spent the rest of our time in Salzburg exploring the old town: visiting Mozarts home, going to the shops and cafes and visiting the Salzburg Castle. Salzburg is a very charming city in a beautiful setting. It's small with not much to see or do, but that's just what we needed.

That is all for now, so I shall say "So long, farewell, it's time to bid good night!"

Austrian Love

Gerald and I recently visited Vienna and Salzburg for a long weekend, which was just the right amount of time. We didn't feel rushed and we didn't get bored. Unlike most other trips, we didn't have an idea of what we wanted to do in these cities. The only thing I was looking forward to was The Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. So that left us with 3 days to fill. I'll start by telling you a bit about Vienna.

We started off in Vienna and after checking into our hotel, we immediately went to the nearest sausage stand.  Kasekrainer sausages are the local ones and they are mighty fine. There's bits of cheese in the sausage and you eat it with a piece of bread and some mustard - nothing fancy about it. After grabbing the bite to eat, we wandered around the city to see what was out there, not knowing what to do or where to go. We ended up buying tickets to a Mozart concert for the following night while wandering about. At this point, we thought it would be best to look some things up. Gerald saw that the original "Kiss" painting was in a museum called The Belvedere so we decided to go ahead and check it out. It was a beautiful painitng, I must say. Below is a picture of it. I didn't know much about Gustav Klimt's work, except from the movie "This Means War,"and I really appreciated it.

After spending the the majority of the late afternoon/early evening at the museum, we rushed back to the hotel to change for our dinner at Plachutta.  My friend Tiffany recommended the restaurant to us and it didn't disappoint. The restaurant is known for their different ways of cooking every part of the cow you can think of. The most famous in Vienna - the boiled beef. The boiled beef was served in thick slices with beef broth with root veggies, sauteed potatoes, and some yummy garlic sauce. Thanks Tiffany for the rec!

I forgot to mention that a few days before leaving for Vienna, I looked up bike tours and found one that went through the Wachua wine valley! We booked the tour and spend all of Friday out in the beautiful country side. We met a few Americans and Aussies as well. Bikes, wine, and good company made for a great day despite the lack of sunshine. We biked in total about 20 miles and my butt was sore afterwards...haha. 

Upon returning to Vienna we both had a quarter of a pizza each for only 3 euros! Best deal in town as Gerald calls it. We didn't have time for a proper dinner as we had to rush to the Mozart concert we booked the day before. The concert was fun and something to see, as it was listed on the 1000 places to see before you die list, but our seats were not the greatest so I couldn't see most of it. Oh wells, the sound and venue was pretty though. 

After doing all this in Vienna, we still had a whole day before heading to Salzburg and decided to just spend it exploring the city. We started off at Hunderwasser apartments, then off to the Schoebrunn palace, which was located a little outside the city. We wandered back into town and had a stroll along the shopping areas, stopping at Central Cafe where I had my first Viennese coffee! We didn't want to end up in Salzburg so late, so ended up taking the 7 pm train and on our way to the home of the Sound of Music =) I'll update about Salzburg a bit later....

Oban & Mull

About a month ago, Gerald had a work trip to Glasgow, so with me not working, I decided to join him and then head to the west coast for the weekend. We left for Glasgow on a Thursday night and it was the first time we did a long drive (2 1/2 hours) after dark. It's not like driving in TX with street lights and all that, it was more like pitch black roads and single lane highways...eeks. I'd be afraid if something happened during the road trip because you have no clue where you are and what is out there. Anyhow we made it down alright and spent a nice day in Glasgow, Gerald at work, and me shopping =) I even got his cab driver to take me to the Whole Foods there to see what goodies they had. I probably spent about 30 pounds and my cab ride was 40 pounds! Probably not the wisest thing to do, but I didn't know it at the time and the Whole Foods was a taste of home and some sort of entertainment for me...haha

After Gerald got off work, we drove another 2 hours to Oban.  You have probably heard that name before, it's the name of quite a popular whiskey guys like to drink. Oban is also known as "the gateway to the Isles" of Scotland. And that is correct, because after having a nice seafood dinner Friday night, we woke up nice and early Saturday morning to catch the ferry to the Isle of Mull. Before leaving, we did have a nice breakfast served to us by our wonderful host at the Alt na Craig Bed and Breakfast. Whenever I meet such sweet owners who love what they do, it makes me want to open up a B&B more and more. One day, we will get there. 

The Isle of Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides.  The population of the entire isle is a little less than 3000 people.  The ferry ride over was about an hour and although cold and a bit wet, it was very pleasant. I can't say enough how beautiful this country is. It's so peaceful just to look out at what mother nature has created; definitely a place for someone to visit who just wants to get away from it all. The isle contained mostly single track roads, so driving around was a bit like a race track, dodging cars and all. 

We visited a little town called Tobermory and enjoyed some of the freshest scallops I've ever had. I mean the fisherman walked in to the restaurant, with his jumpsuit and all and delivered the scallops. From sea to table is how I like it. I always wondered why Aberdeen doesn't have this type of seafood. I was told that the west coast waters are very different from the North sea waters and therefore, we get more fish here than shellfish, so that explains it. 

From Tobermory, we had another couple of hours to kill before our ferry back to Oban so decided to do a bit of exploring around the west coast (of Mull) beaches. This is when you just wish that Scotland had warmer weather. The beach we visited was called Calgary bay and it was just beautiful. Again, despite the rain and cold weather. Beautiful blue waters, white sand, surrounded by luscious greenery from the land. I can only imagine what it would be like on a beautiful, warm, sunny day! We spent just a few minutes here and continued on towards our ferry terminal.  Along the way, we saw a sheep jump into the bay and swim, a sheep jump over a guardrail because Gerald was tailgating him, highland cows chillen underneath some trees along the coast, and more cattle grazing some grass along the coast. I hope you get the picture now, all we saw were animals! Where all the people were, I have no idea. I wish we had more time on the island to do some walks and visit other towns but it was time to head back to the ferry. Maybe one day during the summer, we can return. I definitely enjoyed it.

calgary bay

highland cows

Back in Oban, we freshened up and went out for dinner at a tiny restaurant called The Seafood Temple. The restaurant only seats about 16 people and has just 2 servings a night. Food was fresh and cooked perfectly. The west coast oysters were yummy and just everything about it. After living here, I really appreciate the smaller mom and pop restaurants and try to support them as much as a I can. 

Our trip out here was a bit short but gave us a good taste of the area. We hope to come back and visit the distillery and maybe another one of the isles. On the way back home we stopped by Kilchurn Castle and Blair Castle.

kilchurn

blair

Looking forward to our next road trip in Scotland. I'm thinking Fort Williams.

Spring is in the Air

It's a beautiful spring like day here in Aberdeen, so I thought I'd take a moment to update the blog. Aberdeen has had some pretty great weather lately, more sunny days than gloomy days that I can remember. I've been walking around quite a bit and it's been very pleasant. As most of you know, hillwalking is what people here like to do on the weekends. I'm lucky enough to be able to do it during the week with some pretty fun people. Walking makes for great conversations:  food, kids, travels, TV and best of all, it really costs nothing! Here are a few pics from some of the walks I've done.

Besides walking, I've also been crafting a lot. It really helps to pass the time, and lets me be creative. Well, I wouldn't say super creative because I've been getting a lot of my ideas from Pinterest, but it's still my own work =P I recently made this string art of the state of TX and it came out pretty nice. I love looking at it, reminds me of home. I'm not going to lie, it took some work, hammering those nails but did give me a little arm work out...haha. I think I'll try and make some other states or countries for friends when I get the time.

I've also been hanging out with a few new girls, who are mostly from TX! We've been watching The Bachelor together on Tuesday nights.  I know, this season wasn't the best, but it was fun having girl time and talking about Courtney. 

AWA has been our family away from home and we've been doing lots with them. Mardi Gras was good fun again this year and I'm proud to say, my poms made an appearance =P

Every year, the AWA choose a charity to support and this year's charity is Befriend a Child. A group of us attended the charity ball and had a really good time. 

Oh, and I went out and played Mahjong this past Friday. It was so fun! I think this might need to be included in our game nights =) 

Anyhow, that's it's for me. Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Love

What can I say? I'm in love. I'm in love with everything right now:  cooking, crafting, meeting new people, not working, volunteering, photography...the list is endless.  When I think I've pretty much found all the things I want to do, something else comes up and it's great.

Recently, I've been pretty involved with the AWA and am meeting new people every day. I love hearing about where people have come from and their experiences.  A couple weeks ago, we went to dinner with some friends and at the dinner table alone, we had 5 different ethnicity! Here's a pic with some of the girls:



As we are getting to know people, we're also having to say goodbye. We've been hanging out with a local couple here, and they'll be moving to Houston on Friday. I'm so excited for them to see where we've come from and to share with them some of our favorite things to see and do as they have done with us here.  So friends, if you're reading this, I might ask you for some favors in showing them a good time while they are there =)

Speaking of love, Gerald and I spent our ninth Valentines day together. I can't believe I've been with him for a third of my life already. It's amazing and I really couldn't ask for a better partner in life.  Here's his cute little Vday card to me. You might have guessed, but somebody has baby fever, and it's not me...haha! We'll get there soon....



I thought I would blog a bit more now that I'm staying at home, but I've actually been quite busy or probably just lazy. I've been on that Pinterest thing pretty often and maybe that's what's taking up all my time, if I'm not out and about.  You have to admit though, Pinterest is a time saver; no more searching for thing on your own; just let other people do the work!

I kind of have a routine down with my week now and I'm liking the flow of it. Since I don't have my UK license yet, I've been walking everywhere I go and that equates to about 3 miles a day, which is pretty much my work out. I have yet to join the gym or to go running as I had planned. But I did order a Yoga DVD that I'm going to start doing. I really want to start running but self motivation is not working. I really need a running buddy but have yet to find one.

Anyhow, I guess it's time to make some dinner so I'll say bye for now. Hope everyone is doing well =)