December Again!

This is such a favorite time of year - the pine scents wafting through the house, the sparkly decorations, hot chocolate on a daily basis, frost on the red berries outside. It's so lovely!

It would seem that St Andrews knew that today was the first of December. November had its chilly days and sometimes I didn't dress warmly enough but there were still plenty of nice, sunny moments with a warm breeze playing in my hair. Not today! I didn't venture out of the house until 11am but frost was everywhere, gorgeously glistening. The pond in our neighborhood had little patches of ice and the ducks were nowhere to be seen. I was bundled in my supremely wonderful green, wool sweater, a chunky brown scarf and my super cute burnt-red jacket but I was still just a little chilly. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was wearing a mini skirt and leggings but such things happen on laundry day. I tried to make up for it with thick socks and my fuzzy boots. :) It worked. Style happened.

I think we can legitimately move to Christmas now too, as we had our wonderful Thanksgiving last week. Time to break out the Christmas music!

I find myself keenly aware of passing time. The end of October is somehow upon us already - a whole month and then some gone by since we first set foot in this country. There is still so much to do! So much that we want to see, explore, discover - I wonder if we will have time for all of it.

Perhaps this is most notable to me as one year has already passed more swiftly than I thought possible. Each month I found myself marveling at the rapid pace yet I still looked at the coming months as plenty of time in which to accomplish what I wanted. How untrue that proved to be! The end of the summer was filled with rushing and scurrying about, never having enough hours in the day. I don't want that to be repeated this year. Somehow, I want to take it all in. Absorb it and breathe it and live it. Truly experience what we have in front of us.

The question will always be how. How to deal with the tasks that come along with being out in the world as an adult while still seeing the magic that is in the surroundings. How to juggle schoolwork and play time. How to see the world while living on a shoestring budget. A great many how's in this world and rather less of the answers. Perhaps this awareness will come into play. Perhaps it's just recognizing the whirlwind before it sweeps you along. At least you can see the ride for what it is.

Fall Means ..

caramel apple cider
brightly colored leaves
fluffy scarves with matching hat and gloves
warm, fuzzy boots
wearing a cute jacket everyday
hot chocolate
sugar cookies in seasonal shapes
M&M's in fall colors
apple pie
pumpkin pie!
Thanksgiving
red noses and cheeks
football!
warm blankets
festivals
apple dumplings
cozy fireplaces
scented candles
pumpkin seeds
apple picking

*sigh*
I love this time of year.

Hooray for Fall!

This is one of my favorite spots to pass on the way into town. It's so incredibly simple and beautiful!

25 Things I Like About Scotland

The first in a four part series of 100 items.

1) Abundant rose gardens
2) The possibilities for misty days
3) Advertisements for "wellies"
4) The cabbies
5) Brightly coloured doors
6) The ancient feel
7) The expectation of tea time
8) Using the train!
9) Anticipating Elizabeth Bennett around every corner
10) Little old ladies driving
11) Little old ladies taking their cart to market
12) Bikes with baskets
13) Teensy dishwashers
14) Weekly shopping
15) The wind
16) Scarves!!
17) Pastries, particularly the little chicken pies
18) Well behaved dogs
19) The bunnies
20) The Botanical Gardens
21) Double decker buses
22) An actual history
23) Cooler and milder weather
24) Posh fashion
25) The hedgerows

An Unexpected Adjustment

I need to make some bookends and it's like this - I love this country. I love exploring new places with my husband, being young and doing things we won't be able to do once kids come along. We are on such an incredible adventure!

Amoungst all of the excitement however, is an unrest and slight dissatisfaction. I feel almost ashamed to type it but there you go. I had not anticipated the confining nature of being married and attending graduate school, didn't even see it coming. Certain freedoms seem to be lost. We are in such a lovely place with new things to try while having the most constricting budget - it's frustrating. I want to make our home beautiful and must instead live under regulations from our housing authority. I want for us to look the part of graduate students and find that such a transformation is not yet possible.

I didn't realize how anxious I would be with such constraint. Frankly, I never expected to have such binds placed upon us. The day when schooling is behind us and steady income is at hand will be a glorious thing. To be able to govern our own home to suit our own tastes is a gift with a value I never realized. I cannot wait to have that.

Truly, St Andrews is a marvelous place. The atmosphere of the town suits us very well and we're excited about what the future here could hold. We're settling in, making wonderful friends, learning the town and making routine. Life as a whole is good.

Never have I ever .... until now!

We've been having a lot of fun adjusting to this new country of ours, though some things are more fun than others. For instance, I had never had the delicious experience of being the oldest and only married couple on campus for a week solid. We happened to arrive at the same time as all of the freshers so we were constantly surrounded by tiny, giggly girls and awkward, staring boys. The thought crossed my mind that we would be alone for the rest of our year here without a soul to talk to - no fun! Fortunately that changed as the rest of everyone came and we met others in the post-graduate department.

I have also never moved into what is basically dormitory housing to find a plethora of drinking glasses specifically designed with alcohol in mind. We have two whiskey shot glasses, four small wine goblets and several pint glasses. There hasn't been much in the way of tastiness to grace those glasses yet but we'll get around to it. By that time, perhaps we'll be comfortable toting our various beverages home from the store without the discreetness of bags like the rest of our town. Very interesting indeed.

Never before have I been able to see a sea from my apartment! We have the extreme pleasure of looking over the North Sea each and every day. There was one day that we could not see it but that was due to the amount of mist in the air so we couldn't really see much of anything at all.

A new experience I have more than thoroughly enjoyed was our mini pub crawl. This is not at all to say that I had loads to drink or did foolish things or go into any trouble. My enjoyment stemmed from the mere fact of being able to go with my friends to an actual pub and not leave reeking of smoking or having a headache. Smoking is banned in all shops here! The entire pub atmosphere is rather different than what you would find in America. During the day, it's a family friendly establishment and you'll often see kids there. Night time is more adult only but the seedy characters are missing. You can order food from a fairly extensive menu till rather late into the night and it isn't so loud that you can't have a conversation with the friends across the table.

I love this country.

Perfect Weather

A tasty cup of tea.
A good book, perhaps one I've never read before.
Comfy clothes.
An art project. Or two if I'm feeling particularly inspired.
A movie as twilight decends.

That is what today should consist of. True, rain and thunderstorms is more than a little bit unusual for this time of the year, but that's what we find outside our windows today. It is drippy, grey and a little bit dreary. No matter! As you well know, this is not something I mind. The activities mentioned beforehand are some of my favorites and days like today are the perfect ones for them.

Instead of being at my house however, I find myself alone at work. Not a dreadful thing by any means and I did try to rise to the occasion. Rainboots and a scarf about my head made for a delightful walk over while a bright, summery skirt adds another spot of color to this sunshine filled room. This shop is truly charming. No matter what the outside happens to be handing out, the room is bright, cheery and refreshing. I adore working here. Even if I would rather be curled up with my husband and a cup of blueberry vanilla tea.

The end of the shift is still a couple of hours away and I am rather looking forward to it. Another jaunt through this pretty little town in the bright colors I have on today. An evening with Nathanael. A warm cup of tea and a movie as twilight decends.

Something is not quite right...

Let me begin by saying that I love our little apartment. It's cozy, finally looks how I want it, and most things have found a way to be organized. I love living there and being there with my husband. It really is great.

Downside - serious lack of insulation. Serious. There's a place on the floor where, if you set your feet about a foot and a half apart, you can tell where the basement and the apartment below us divide. How? One foot is merely cold, the other foot is frigid to the point of frostbite.

Another favorite spot we have recently discovered is the back door. We don't really use it much and it's basically just another part of the wall that we don't pay much attention to. However, it came glaringly into our vision the other night when Nate noticed that the bottom part of it looks like the inside of a freezer you haven't cleaned in awhile. Yep. At least a half inch of frosty ice on the piece of metal at the bottom.

The plastic sheeting over the old windows is foggy most days and the new windows have ice on the inside.

The furnace can't keep a constant temperature to save its life and the little space heater is trying desperately to make up the difference. Not working out so well but it's sure trying.

All told, we spend most of our time in several layers and wrapped in blankets. At night, we pull the space heater into the bedroom, crank the heat up to 70 in a last ditch effort before turning it back down and then close the door behind us. A new TV and VCR provide reason enough to retire early and the chance to be warm for a bit is incredibly enticing. We've even fortified one window with a spare blanket and used another two as thick rugs on top of the carpet.

It's an adventure and a good topic to blog about. I don't really mind all that much. It's when I can't feel two of my toes even after wearing socks and slippers all day that sort of gets to me.