Competition Week!!!

This Saturday will be a ballroom dancing competition here in Edinburgh and I have signed up to be in it! There is so much that goes into prep for this thing. Costumes have to have certain regulations on them, accessories have to be gathered, hair and make-up products by the kilo have to be gathered, and emergency kits have to be assembled.

I have two possible outfits for the weekend. The first is a cute blue top with my faithful old black skirt and the second is the bridesmaid dress from this past summer. Either one will work for this (since I'm in the beginner/novice category I can't have sequins and fringes.... yet...) or I may end up wearing both, who knows!

Tonight we had a mini party with just the ladies (and one of the gents who also got prettified) and had a practice run of hair and make up, hence why I'm up later than I should be on a Monday night. I came back to my flat and none of my flat mates were wandering around to be able to see my pretty face in not even enough make-up that I will end up wearing this weekend.

This isn't a very good picture of it....

This is me with tons of hair spray on the front half of my hair, about an inch thick of foundation, tanner, blush, eye shadow, eye liner, lipstick, and mascara all generously applied and came wandering laughing that some how my flat mates were missing this (and they don't actually know I joined ballroom, hehehe). Still to be done for Saturday: more eye shadow, eye liner and tanner (that is not nearly enough) and hopefully in the right colors to match what I'm wearing, more hair spray to keep my bun in the back neat for an all day event, fake eye lashes to make me look dramatic, and accerries to make judges look across the room and say "Her, she looks good, next round." (apparently it also helps if you're tall for these things, not saying anything....)

I will try to take tons of pictures this weekend. I'm still a little depressed that I couldn't find my partner to make him sign up too so I wouldn't have to repair with a girl and learn some of the male steps in half a weeks time... on top of neurology (aka study of the brain, nerves, etc).

Looking ahead

Now that I am once again in the UK, I have to once again plan for the next 6 months in advance. This means I am setting up my lambing experience for my Easter break and am I am starting the almost as daunting task of looking into a flat for the rest of my time here. It will be an interesting search, as I have a list of things that I am looking for in a flat: proximity to the bus routes to school, ability to get to usual weekly destinations (i.e. church, dance class, knitting society), a space to have where I could have the possibility of entertaining guests (like feeding American food to British people and then laughing when they think it's weird), and I would really like to find a place where I can stay in it for the next 3 years so I won't continually moving in in August and Moving out in May. Of course, I have a few months on the housing front. On the lambing one, I have a possibility or two, but I'm still emailing people with nothing set (much to my dismay after the great fun of trying and failing to find something over the Christmas break). But I do have something to look forward to: on Sunday, I'm taking an extra class in Marine Mammal First Aid! It should be exciting and I can't wait :)

T. J. vs. T. K.

I've made it back to the UK, but my internal clock is still off. This morning I used some of my time while I couldn't fall back asleep to solve the dilemma of what came first: T. J. Maxx of the US or T. K. Maxx of the UK.

It is all documented in this wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TJX_Companies

To summarize, TJX companies was founded in America and used the T.J. Maxx name for their stores. After spreading across the US, they made another in the UK and changed the name for here to T.K. Maxx.

To summarize the summation, the US store came first, then the UK store. Who is copying whom?

1....!!!!!!!!!!!

I head back to the states in t-9 hours.

So how did I spend my last day in the UK? Let me give the brief overview (and be impressed):

My alarm went off at 7:30 but because I had stayed up till 2 am last night, I hit snooze for 15 mins.

I got up and showered, and gathered together a load of laundry, headed down and started it.

Came back, watched last nights episode of leverage. Ran downstairs and put it in the dryer.

Gathered together some money and went to the store to buy a few items (such as lunch) to get me through today. Ran back and took my clothes out of the laundry.

Gathered together some money, and went to a local store to exchange it to US currency. Trip = 3 miles (of course wasn't tired from this).

Came back and started cleaning, realized that I could probably wash my quilt so took it downstairs and started wash number 2.

Continued to clean. Vacuumed my room so now the rug is blue again (not the same shade as my hair color).

Realized that there were a few more items I could wash. Started wash number 3 with all of the hand towels in our flat.

Did all of the left over dishes and put away already clean ones. Started dinner.

Ran to the store and bought paper towels.
Cleaned out fridge and washed it down.

Went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes film (which I recommend if you enjoyed the first because it was excellent). Total travel = 3.5 miles.

Tired because it's late. Took out all of the trash in my flat and recyclables (left behind by my flatmates and what I had as well). Ripped everything I had packed in my suitcase and repacked it better.

Sorted through change for the buses to the airport tomorrow and gathering my carry-on luggage. My laptop will be the last thing since I have to disassemble it from the wall. I also still have to remake my bed (because I washed everything) and finally collapse in it to awake early to head home.

I would write more, but I'm making typing errors all over the place from being tired. But I am nearly there. I shall soon be in the states.

2...!!!

2 more days!!

Tonight was the children's carol service. It was adorable and child oriented so I could keep up. A couple of them read something and they also performed a short skit and we sang carols and they told the Christmas story to them as they were all gathered around the front. We also got oranges with a few sweets stuck in them with tooth picks, a red ribbon wrapped around it and a lighted candle on top called a "Christingle."

For lunch I had this massive burger with salsa on it that was "fiery" or you know, mild. And while I think about lunch, I might actually miss having lemonade standard come carbonated while I'm home. With some lime in it, it's pretty tasty.

3...

3 days left!

Today I made legit chocolate chip cookies with actual chocolate chips in them. It was very very exciting :)

I getting things together to get ready to leave. I'm going to start packing tomorrow and by Monday I'm going to clean, do laundry, and finish packing things together. I'm gathering together money to exchange into US currency because I had half hoped to get the better exchange rate from my bank, but I wouldn't have gotten it until Tuesday at 1pm at the earliest (not particularly helpful...). Oh well.

4...

4 more days until my return.

I've been working on a list of things I'm looking forward to having when I get back the States. My food list is getting rather long:

Food's I Would Like to Eat(A.K.A. What I Miss)

Pancakes, Bacon, and Syrup

Here the bacon is more like slices of ham (although it does taste the same, it just isn't the same as crispy bacon) and you have to pay extra for maple syrup (which of course makes sense it's imported). I do have something that sort of resembles syrup, but it doesn't have that maple/butter flavor to it :(

Eggnog

This is just a seasonal thing (although I haven't found it here, but mostly I'm assuming that it's hidden is some weird corner of the stores that I would never look).



Root Beer Floats

I did find a store that sells cans of root beer, but for 16 pounds a case I decided to wait on that.

Beef Stew

I could make this, but I'm lazy :) my mom said she'd make it for me.

Pizza

This isn't just any pizza. This is white pizza :) When you're flavors are a few choices including the pepperoni and cheese dubbed "The American" that only a few places will have (proof that Americans own pizza and Europeans are the ones copying) you miss all of the good flavors.


Milkshakes

What's a girl got to do to get a nice thick milkshake around here?


A Strawberry Banana Smoothie from my favorite Smoothie place :D

I usually get one when I feel like I deserve it. I think I do.


Doughnuts

Perhaps a whole box, deep fried, smothered in sugar, glaze, icing, sprinkles, frosting and possibly stuffed full of custard. I can't do anymore healthy doughnuts. They are blasphemy to the name of doughnut. In case there is any debate, Webster comes to my rescue:

Definition of DOUGHNUT

1

: a small usually ring-shaped cake fried in fat

Thank you Webster. I shall find a Dunkin Doughnuts upon return.

And lastly:

A cup of Hot Chocolate

Yes there is hot chocolate here. And I did have a good cup at the chocolate tree (that I dumped my candy cane in to make it better), but where are my marshmallows/fluff (mostly fluff)? What about putting whipped cream and chocolate syrup or animal crackers on top? What about white hot chocolate???? (I'm going to find packets of these and bring them back with me).

And this is my list so far. I'm sure I will find other things to add to my list (like pretzel m&ms) but this is a pretty good start :)