Catching Up

I'm fairly certain the point of blogging is to try your best to update it as things happen in your life. Unfortunately, I am a procrastinator extraordinaire...which translates into--there are many things to update on this post!

Two weeks ago, Steve and I went to South Carolina to celebrate the wedding of my best friend, Nicole Hagerman to a great guy, Jon Abercrombie. It was the perfect wedding and I feel so lucky to have been included in the celebration. Nick was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen...she was stunning. It was an emotional week but SO much fun. I was able to reconnect with some long lost friends and also made plenty of new ones! Congratulations, Nickie and Jon! Love you both!

 



My bestie!





He is one good looking videographer :)





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Happy couple!

 

 The week after the wedding, Steve's sister, Melissa, graduated from Red Mountain High School. Everything was perfect and she accepted her diploma looking sassy is a pair of white wedges! Congratulations, Melissa Bette Mason! Can't WAIT to see the wonderful things to come in your life :)



No more weddings or graduations for now. Life is calm except for our impending move. Because Steve is now working in Scottsdale, we are trying to find a condo to rent in that area. It will be nice to be closer to the city center...however, we will miss living with Matt. I know Abby is going to miss her cousin (Fitzy) a lot too :( I think that's it for now. My summer resolution is to keep up with this thing. If I could do it from Europe I can certainly do it from the comfort of my own home!

Cheers



Time flies

On Saturday, we saw Steve's sister, Melissa, off to her senior prom. It was a very proud moment and she looked amazing! Melissa was 12 when I met Steve and since then, we have seen her change from a girl  into an ambitious young woman. Steve was very excited to send his little sister off for a night of fun and unforgettable memories :)



Spring is here

Steve and I recently celebrated our 2 year anniversary by going to Disneyland...honestly, where else would we go?! It was a great time--we splurged and ate at the Napa Rose for dinner which was an amazing experience. We packed our days full of rides and running around to make sure we got to everything...never a dull moment when we are visiting Disney!

Stuck in line for Indiana Jones



A mini replica of our wedding cake :)



My anniversary gift from Steve

Big Thunder!

Snap back to reality

We haven't blogged since we returned from our trip...that was unintentional! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and it has taken us a bit of time to get readjusted to normal life, ripe with responsibility and obligation. Our trip left us with a fever...and the only medicine is more traveling, baby! We do not have any definitive plans but we would like to try to go to northern Europe next summer...time will tell.

But for now, we are back in Arizona and bracing ourselves for another summer...oi vey. One great piece of news is that Steve got a new job! He will now be an account manager at Yelp and he starts on May 3. His last day at UoP is Thursday...the countdown begins! To celebrate our 2 year anniversary and Steve's new employment, we are going to Disneyland this weekend! We are both looking forward to it...I plan to be very tired that day as it would be unthinkable to miss the Royal Wedding at 3 am--well worth it, I think! That's pretty much it for now...doesn't seem like there is nearly as much to blog about as there was when we were staring at the Eiffel Tower :)

Cheers!

Cheers

We are sitting in the Edinburgh airport waiting to start the first leg  of our journey home. This goes without saying but are sad to leave as this has been the trip of a lifetime.

Yesterday we ventured out to Scotland's coast, only a short bus ride from the city center. It was far from swimming weather but the sun was out. We mosied along the beach, munching on cheese sandwiches, apples and BBQ Pringles :) After going back into town we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Edinburgh and enjoying the relatively nice weather. There are huge, hilly, green parks here that look up onto the old parts of the city. Beautiful. We dozed, laughed and reminisced while laying under a blue sky and warm sun.

Scotland has been amazing and it is close to the top of the must do list when we come back to Europe. The people here are warm, friendly, inquisitive and ready to point you towards a pint when needed! Even their version of TSA is nicer and more polite than ours, a definite perk :)

So now we spend the next 14 hours in an airport or on a plane. Feeling blue to go home...excited to see friends and family (including a certain kitty Mason)...looking forward to coming back in the not too far future. See you all soon!

Addition: We are now in London. Every flight in Europe seems to be delayed. Our flight to Heathrow was an hour late and our flight home is behind an hour and a half. That makes four delayed flights this trip.

One more picture

We can only post 3 pictures at a time with the wifi connection we have right now. Here's a fourth. It was taken as a part of the underground tour. Perhaps this is what we would have looked like in 16th century Scotland. Yikes.

Scotland, The Last Stop

We landed in Scotland at midnight local time after our discount airline delayed our flight by 30 minutes. We headed through an empty Edinburgh Airport with our bags on our shoulders searching for a cab. When we finally found one and told him the address he knew just where to go. He dropped us off at our B&B, a splurge we decided to make after spending far less than we expected on food. We met the owner and fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up to a hot breakfast, something we haven't had in a while. The breakfast contained: scrambled eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, veggie sausage, and toast. It was very good. After food we got on our way, walking to the city center. Our first stop was The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the summer home of Her Majesty. It was a well put together tour, and a lovely place. We then went into the Scottish Parliament to have a quick look around and while there we stopped for an early lunch.

We then walked "the royal mile," a stretch of road connecting the current palace to the old castle, our next stop. Along the way we stopped by merchants and street performers, churches and pubs. It was a very busy, fun street. Upon reaching Edinburgh Castle we were amazed with its size. The place was huge, it was... a castle. There are many exhibits to be seen, and it took us a good 3 hours to see it all. Crown jewels, stories of plots against the king, and a camp for POWs were among the most interesting. The POW section was made more interesting because it actually housed American prisoners of war from the American Revolution. It was really cool to see etchings of the American flag on a door, made by a solider who had been shipped to prison across an ocean.

With the castle to our backs we headed to our room. We stopped at a grocery store to get dinner, and watched British Wipeout. Hilarious. Around 7 we headed out again for an underground tour. Much of High Street, or the royal mile, is built on top of old homes. We toured a few of them. It was a fun tour. It really would have sucked to live in Edinburgh in the 1500s, with the plague and poop everywhere.

It was ten when we headed back to the room. We stopped in a pub and had a few pints, not realizing what incredible lightweights we are. We stumbled out of the pub, which is next door to our bed and breakfast and went to sleep.

Today, our last full day in Europe, we plan on heading to the beach for a look around. The sun is shining like it has been nearly every place we've been. We're close to the end of our fun packed adventure. I'm sure today will be a beautiful one.

Miss you all, and see you soon.

Lindsay and Steve