birthday girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGARET!!!!!!


Love you and wish I could be there!!!

Don't be shy, give it a try, buy the BIG ISSUE

It has been 6 weeks, so sadly Meghan & Taylor finished up their internships and went back to the USA. Meghan was really upset but her boss gave her two really nice bottles of whiskey to take home with her. It's gonna be lonely with out them. I moved into the room with Hayley because our new flatmate Rachel has come. She seems really nice and is working at the Vet school. Today I went into the office for a little while in the morning and then walked over to the Royal Blind School to do lunch covers. I am not gastro trained but I have had eating and drinking training so I was able to help out. I was able to meet more of the kids that are going to be attending the playscheme so that was a plus. No plans tonight, just taking it easy after the past crazy week.

1st day of Noelanis tour de scotland

Got up at 6AM to walk Noelani to the airport shuttle. We had an AMAZING week. After not seeing her for 3 years, nothing has changed. It's probably a good thing we live far away from each other because we cause too much trouble when we are together haha. The first night we went to a patio bar called "Three Sisters" to look for the band we saw the night before, but they weren't playing :( Everyone was sitting outside watching the World Cup. They were giving a away a ton of free stuff, we got Jose Cuervo t-shirts, flip-flops, etc. The bartenders were giving also giving away cowboy hats. Unfortunately they ran out before we could grab one. Noelani had her heart set on getting a hat so (naturally) she had a dance off with a older drunk man for his hat. It was really funny, everyone was watching and clapping. In the end she won the hat, to be lost 3 hours later!After awhile we found a bar that was REALLY cheap, down the street and stayed there most of the night until we met Matt and his gf. Matt works on Georges St. at a place called Lulu's and got us the hook up on drinks and VIP room. Sweeettt. Love being American, everyone wants to be your friend!

Noelani does Scotland

NYC 2004







The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley



Scotland 2010

Official Animal of Scotland :UNICORN!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUEEN ELIZABETH!!!!

So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Neverland

Thursday= Peter Pan at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. It was a very dark version of the story with a 'celtic' twist but we all really liked it. Peter Pan and Hook had some pretty intense fight scenes flying through the air (using harnesses). J. M. Barrie, who is the author of Peter Pan is actually from Scotland (holla!). We stopped at a Thai restaurant for dinner after the show. <3 curry!

Friday=work. stayed in and watched a movie.

Saturday= woke up and went to Edinburgh Dungeons. It was a very tourist place but it was still kind of fun. We walked through the "dungeons" where they reenacted the 'dark times' of Edinburgh. Our group of about 15 people got put on "trial" and got sent to the dungeons. We went on a boat ride unground and people jumped out at us every once in awhile. We saw all of the disgusting torture devices they used around the 1700's. It was pretty spooky. After the tour we took a bus to Leith and walked around by the loch. Eventually we took the bus back to Old Town. Hayley and I searched for a place to eat for about an hour and were just about to kill each other we finally found a place that wasn't covered with drunken world cup fans. When we were heading back to the flat we saw a bunch of drunk boys in kilts being really obnoxious in the street. One of them started doing summer salts on the sidewalk. Lets just say he went with tradition and didn't wear anything under his kilt....hahaha. Watching the world cup with Hayley in the flat GO USA!!!!

"i'm like two decades old...."

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Meghan's 20th birthday!!! Started off with dinner at a place on Georges St. called Brown's. We split wine and sat next to the piano player. It was a really nice resturant. James, Meghan's little Scottish boyfriend joined us for dinner. After we went to a bar called "Candy" and took "jammy donut" shots! Fun night, fun morning at work!

PS. fish and chips comes with mashed peas... NOT guacamole.

looking down on the city

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 m (823 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city, is quite easy to climb, and is a popular walk. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the East, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch.

I wonder what J.K. Rowling is doing...

So, after living with Hayley for a few weeks I have learned that sleeping in ISN'T an option... My living alarm clock got me up bright and early on Saturday morning to go to the farmers market. It was a gorgeous day! I actually wish I had brought shorts with me. The farmers market was below the castle and consisted of little stands with meat, baked goods, fruits and veggies. Meghan got some homemade soap for her sister and we also bought some pork for dinner. Then we walked down to the Palace of Holy Rood. It had been closed for the past two weeks because they had some big meeting there. They call the street we live on "the Royal Mile" because it is exactly a mile from the palace to the castle! The palace was pretty cool, unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures inside. The Palace of Holy Rood was where royal families resided for many centuries, including Mary of Scots but now it is used for meetings and events. The queen stays there when she is in Scotland so it is very very posh. She is having a party there in July...I wasn't invited..bitch. After we finished our audio tour we walked around the gardens, which were so beautiful! For dinner Hayley took me to a BBQ her boss was having. It was just a backyard party with a bunch of plant nerds but very nice. We sat in lawn chairs drinking Pimms (liquor with punch, cucumbers, strawberries, oranges, and mint) and poppy seed cupcakes with homemade torched icing. Mmm. It was POURING when we walked home so we got completely soaked. Since we had been out all day we decided to take it easy and just go to a movie. Meghan, Hayley, Taylor, Jason, and I walked along Princes street and found the movie theater. The guys were being lame and refused to see Sex and the City 2, so we opted for She Out of my League inside. When I got my popcorn it looked really plain so I asked for butter and the cashier was like "what....?" and I repeated myself and she still didn't understand. Then another cashier told me they don't have butter!!??? The movie was really funny. We walked back and decided to get a drink a place called the Wash Bar. They had a DJ, and we just sat and talked for awhile. Good Times!

Franz Ferdinand is from Scotland

The weekend started at a new pub called Alexander Graham Bell. Hayley, Meghan, Taylor and I met up with James and Gordo and had a very drinks with them before heading over to the Standing Order. Hayley brought along her new boytoy Jason, who also works at the botanical gardens. He was a really sweet boy from South Carolina. Out of all the bars The Standing Order is definitely my favorite so far. We hung out at the bar for a while and spent most of the night talking to people from a "stag" party. The groom-to-be was completely wasted and dressed up in a wedding gown, blond wig, and a full face of makeup. It was hilarious! Stag and hen parties (bachelor and bachelorette parties) are very popular here on the weekends. After awhile we went dancing at a place called "Why Not". Taylor, Hayley and I danced for like two hours, it was so much fun! On the way back we met some Scottish boys and we taught them to play duck duck goose in the middle in The Gardens. Then we literally ran to The Clamshell. They were closed because it was almost three and I pretended to have a panic attack so the guy opened back up haha. I introduced Taylor to 'chipscheese&curry' and he LOVED it. Hayley and Meghan got the donna wrap. Sooo good. The Clamshell is the Jimmy Johns of Scotland!

The Meadows Today