One more year until the Big 3-0!

Every year, on my birthday, I am reminded of how blessed I am to be surrounded by such wonderful people. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'm just happy to be celebrating another year of life. I celebrated my 29th birthday on Saturday by having a TX style BBQ with friends. However, there was nothing TX about the weather; of course, it was raining and chilly. That was not going to hold Gerald back from putting on some yummy food for our guest.

A week earlier, I was out and about and decided to drop by the butcher in Aberdeen Market to see if they had a proper size brisket, not the rolled Scottish kind, and what do you know...they did! Why I never asked before is beyond me? Anyhow, we bought an 8 lb brisket for the party and Gerald and I were pretty excited. After 2 years in Scotland, we can actually have some good brisket.  

In addition to the brisket, Gerald grilled wings, sliders, and sausage, all while the rain was coming down. Thanks GP! Let's just say, we didn't go hungry or thirsty, as friends also brought over some yummy dips and drinks. We played the game of "Ignorance" to get the party going and ended the night with a few rounds of flip cup. I know, we're not in college anymore, but there's just something about birthdays that brings the kid out in you, no matter how old. 

Well, that leaves me with one more year to try and accomplish everything on this list:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/turning-30-30-things-every-woman-should-have-and-should-know_n_1447368.html

I believe I'm pretty much there, but there are a few things I could polish up on =) Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, gifts and for those that were here to celebrate with me. You guys are the best! Cheers to the last year in my 20's!

Summer Fun

I've been back in Aberdeen, from my Cambodia trip,  for a good two weeks now and it's been non-stop summer fun!

My first weekend back, we had a going away whiskey tasting at Glenfiddich for our friend Mackenzie, who is moving back to Houston. A lot of girls that I've met here are on rotational type assignments with their companies, so we've been having a lot of going away parties lately. Mackenzie will be number 3 of our "bachelorette" girls to be moving back to Houston. Alyssa and Bethany were the other two. I'm actually happy that they're all back in Houston, because that means I can still try to hang out with them when I'm in town for the holidays. Anyhow, Gerald and I have been on the Glenfiddich tour a total of 3 times, but this time was special because we did the Explorers Tour, which gained us access to one of their bigger warehouses. In this warehouse is where a few casks of the "Cask of Dreams" are stored and our tour guide, Amy, let us sign the cask! I'm hoping to snag a bottle when it comes out in about 12 years or so. After touring whiskey distilleries a good number of time now, I'm starting to like the 18 year old quite a bit...hehe. The Explorers Tour included a dram of the 21 year old, so that was my first time trying it and I still like the 18 better. Well, that was adios to Mackenzie, the Scottish way.

That Friday, we caught up with some friends for dinner at the Lairhilock Inn and met an awesome couple, Matt & Ingrid, who is going to go on a month long road trip from London to Mongolia for Charity. You should read about their adventures here: http://khantstopus.tumblr.com/

I had one week of catching up with laundry, cleaning the house, and getting ready for our siblings and friend to arrive the following Saturday. Because washing and drying sheets take up to 2 days, I had to get started a week in advance; how I still miss the US size washer and dryers. Gi, Raymark, and Sheryl arrived bright and early on Saturday morning via the Caledonian Sleeper train from London and we didn't waste any time playing tour guide. The sun was out in the Deen so we didn't want to miss out on showing them a bit of Stonehaven with the nice weather. We took them out to Dunnottor, our maybe 20th time visiting this castle, and then to the Boat House for lunch, with a stop at the chipper for some fish and chips and fried Mars bar. After eating all that, we still had to fit into our dresses and kilts for the McKeown's wedding that night at the Ardoe House. Five asians, two in kilts, at a double Scottish wedding with Chevron people pretty much equals a great night! Congrats to Stephen & David and Lena & Rickey on their special day. We are so happy to be able to celebrate with them at our first Scottish wedding =) The next morning, we packed our bags and left for a 2 day road trip out to the West Coast of Scotland. I shall blog separately about this beautiful trip so I can share pictures.

After getting back from our road trip, we celebrated the 4th of July with drinks at the Albyn for our friend, Jayna's birthday, and then had a nice last dinner at home with our guests. Of course, a trip to Aberdeen would not be complete without visiting Soul Casino, so we spent out last hour together in this beautiful church. It was sad to see everyone go, but we definitely made some nice memories.







I have lots of catching up blogging to do and will try my best to update very soon! Hope your summer is going great so far and soak up the sun for me, since we're currently sitting at 50 degrees in Scotland.

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.