tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68107801831413405462024-03-05T05:41:47.074-08:00Rowe Your BoatScotland better be ready for some Rowes.Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-40196903111930382472017-01-22T08:04:00.000-08:002017-01-22T08:04:21.633-08:00The worst part about having this blog......is that I don't post enough. I can't believe it's already 2017 and I haven't written in this in almost a year. I even started this blog post in September and never finished it!! If it makes you feel any better, every time I write a blog for work (which is OFTEN) I think about THIS blog and how I've slowly let it die!<br />
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Last you heard from me, we had just returned from over a month in the States waiting for our new visas. Since then, it's been a pretty crazy couple of months.<br />
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Clay started doing more for the Baptist Church - visiting home groups, working with the students, preaching more. I really think he's built for a ministry profession. He's convinced that PhD is still in the future, but for now, ministry is where we are content.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay at YoungLife camp</td></tr>
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Part of the stipulations of his visa is that Clay can only get a part-time job outside of his work with the Baptist Church, AND it has to be in the same field of work (ministry). Luckily, he got connected with YoungLife, which is a Christian organization whose goal is to build relationships with teenagers. And lemme tell you this - teenagers LOVE Clay for some reason. I think it's because he's terrifying and they think that if they can befriend the giant, he won't destroy them. No... I'm kidding. But seriously. Teenagers are drawn to Clay, and YoungLife is an absolute answer to prayer. We were worried about what kind of churchy part-time work would be available for Clay and this is just perfect for him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTOi7aQIvLxl_dO1ngAm1XgJKowkKgFgdliavlCOaliKQo_KjFiLwD-9bg431vlGQZRxvzcbmrBWsrCTw_ue1aBZFtQQgWHQvsoZs2DmR3WwZgPQSCHOCQW3o9MOMnf4IPhzZi1xT3R8D/s1600/12961293_1093219404053845_7159169598581189105_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTOi7aQIvLxl_dO1ngAm1XgJKowkKgFgdliavlCOaliKQo_KjFiLwD-9bg431vlGQZRxvzcbmrBWsrCTw_ue1aBZFtQQgWHQvsoZs2DmR3WwZgPQSCHOCQW3o9MOMnf4IPhzZi1xT3R8D/s320/12961293_1093219404053845_7159169598581189105_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay and YoungLife Staff</td></tr>
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Now, here's the part where my blog gets real. For many of us, money is a struggle in St Andrews. Many students choose to take out massive, unrealistic student loans to ensure that they could live comfortably on a lower/non-existent income, but Clay and I decided against that when we got here. We were doing ok last year in terms of finances. My job paid the bills and gave us a little extra. But since Clay stopped being a student in November, that meant our St Andrews student loan went into repayment, AND because we were no longer students, we had to pay council tax. I sat down at the beginning of the year with all of our money and said, "Ok. Without another income, we can pay all of our bills on my salary and savings through the month of June, and then the 1st of July, we'll start overdrafting everything."<br />
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Now, remember last time I blogged when I said that Clay thinks that God is only using this as an opportunity to strengthen my faith? I think he's partially right. The other reason I think God is orchestrating everything this way is to show us and EVERYONE ELSE how he is miraculously and hilariously providing for us.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">60 Euros and a weird Chinese Mickey Mouse?</td></tr>
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Back in June, I was sweating bullets, and considering getting a extra part-time job to try to support us since I don't have any restrictions with how much I can work. We prayed and prayed that God would support us, and just had to wait around and trust that God would do it. We did a bit of dumpster diving (classy, right?) once the students all left and not only did we find lots of random treasures, like an unopened 5kg bag of sugar, the entire box set of Harry Potter movies and a whole new CASHMERE wardrobe that magically fits Clay's muscles, but we found cash. Someone literally threw away money, and not just a little bit. £62 in change. A bunch of Chinese money. 60 Euros. All sliding around at the bottom of a box with opened mail, a hair straightener and some giant speakers. I just sat in the floor and laughed with Melody while she was here. We prayed that God would provide for us and he sent us TRASH.<br />
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Since then, it's been one of those stories that so many Christians have heard. Someone felt moved to give us a money, and it just HAPPENED to be the right amount to pay our bills for July, for August, for September. We got 3 months past the point where we should have run out of money, and we were still scraping the bottom of the barrel and making it work. GOD IS SO GOOD.<br />
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That being said, Clay is now being paid and WE'RE FIIIIIINE. This has been a rollercoaster of a time in Scotland, and while it has been terrible and frustrating and has made me cry more than any other place we've ever lived, we love it here. And God is taking care of us.<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-22575797193775092492016-02-28T15:26:00.000-08:002016-02-28T16:10:33.180-08:00WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">::dad's phone makes a weird beep sound::<br />
me: did you just take a video?<br />
dad: no, i did something called 'pano...'</td></tr>
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So, if you know anything about our lives, you know the last few months have been... interesting, to say the least. I'll try not to spend too much time recapping.<br />
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Last blog, I basically gave an entire account of all the craziness that was our lives here in Scotland. Lots of drama around Clay's degree (and I didn't even get to the drama with my visa and them taking away my legal right to work last year!). The last 3 months have had even more drama. Let's begin:<br />
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Clay submitted his MPhil thesis, and was told that, instead of getting marks back, he was going to Viva, which is what PhD students do when they defend their work in front of a board. A bit out of the ordinary, but I thought they were just doing it because his time at uni has already been so unconventional, and they were making exceptions to progress him to PhD, so why not? He read some books and then on the 11th of November, he spent a little less than an hour talking to the board, and then called me to say that he was told he wasn't progressing to PhD because the University changed their rules and weren't allowed to let him... and didn't tell us until now. And so began my week of crying every single day.<br />
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We spent the next few days in a complete blur. Why would they string us along for so long, telling Clay that he would get upgraded to PhD at the next step, no wait, the NEXT step, just wait a little longer, get to the NEXT step, just to flat out tell him no? Our visas were set to expire on the 26th of November (yet another University blunder) and we had exactly 15 days to figure out what we were going to do, or legit pack up and move back to the States.<br />
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Long story short (and I'll save you all the angry tears and stuff that I threw around the house in fits of rage), he got official word that his work was not sufficient enough to pass him onto PhD, we came to terms with it, and then St Andrews Baptist Church rescued us. They had an unused Tier 2 work visa that they offered to Clay which would keep us here for at least 3 more years, while Clay could get licensed with the Scottish Baptist Union. The only thing was... we had to apply for it from within the States.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RJCo7HSbqrk3KdkJqRUNKKolvy3DtVxWeFQk0YpHWfoR3olgMRsjzbiUJGGf-vpOh2zbBMtuCG7MWe44ScUEMNFDsvJNyEkjH2OHXOkCuO3a0Ozl0P8pFJ7uvAPpUIwXUBcedhk9IZTY/s1600/IMG_6578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RJCo7HSbqrk3KdkJqRUNKKolvy3DtVxWeFQk0YpHWfoR3olgMRsjzbiUJGGf-vpOh2zbBMtuCG7MWe44ScUEMNFDsvJNyEkjH2OHXOkCuO3a0Ozl0P8pFJ7uvAPpUIwXUBcedhk9IZTY/s320/IMG_6578.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">December 6th - On the beach!!</td></tr>
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Sooooo. Thanksgiving Day, we flew from Edinburgh to London and then London to Atlanta! We applied for visas and then waited and waited and waited, and were approved on the 21st of December. Luckily for me, my job is amazing and let me stay home until after Christmas (STILL GETTING PAID- WHAAAAAAAAAT). So we spent a month at home, went to NOLA, drove all over Atlanta, drove to Panama City Beach 3 different times and jumped in the Gulf of Mexico. It was glorious. We got the summer weather that we missed over the last year in Scotland and got to hug all my family and friends. It was really a much needed time to relax. We have essentially spent the last 2 years desperately trying to make a home and set down roots here with the University constantly telling us there was no hope, and it was just nice to be back in something familiar and settled for once.<br />
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This is certainly the more boring version of what has happened to us. Sometimes, it's crazy to me when I look back and see how difficult this whole process has been. How much we've struggled through the last few years. Several people have said to us, "Do you think maybe this is God's way of telling you __________" and then fill in the blank with anything. <i>We shouldn't be in Scotland, Clay shouldn't be doing PhD, this isn't where God wants you to be, you're sinning and you need to get your heart right...</i> I mean, really, the list goes on. These are things people have actually said to us. But honestly, if God didn't want us to be here, HE'D TELL US. It's not like we got to Scotland and said, "Ok, God, thanks for getting us to this magical land of haggis and haar and old haunted castles, but we can do this on our own now." And really, where does the Bible say that if you're following God's leadership, your life is peaches? Where does it say "And Paul told people about Jesus and God made his life super easy, and he never had to leave his family and nobody ever said mean things to him and he didn't ever cry and had IHOP pancakes for breakfast every morning?" (That's clearly the Message translation). But really, why do people automatically assume that, because life is hard, something must be wrong?<br />
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This whole process has been a matter of trust. Clay jokingly says that God is purposefully making this difficult for us because my faith is so shaky... just to test me! I have to tell myself every day, no matter what, that God didn't call us here to fail, and he is working out the details. We are just here in obedience, and it just so happens that we love it, despite the cold and rain, despite the University and visa drama, despite the tight finances and the fact that stuff seems to be continually breaking. We are content.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1QMO8jlSiW_SpwcQabuIEioeSdVRYu9Sz5FH0dKyjHsQjL718XVsA-29Pf9YvoHpw1f4_v39NQUFmEDM923zLLGN-VGZaeozY4mMtQ8CMgPTD6NVH5Umql8ex0EgNLA66iKhjB0AEHMi/s1600/IMG_7177.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1QMO8jlSiW_SpwcQabuIEioeSdVRYu9Sz5FH0dKyjHsQjL718XVsA-29Pf9YvoHpw1f4_v39NQUFmEDM923zLLGN-VGZaeozY4mMtQ8CMgPTD6NVH5Umql8ex0EgNLA66iKhjB0AEHMi/s400/IMG_7177.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what it looks like outside my house. Why would anyone ever leave Scotland??</td></tr>
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Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-15686263456462719752015-11-08T10:59:00.001-08:002015-11-08T10:59:38.077-08:00Nothing and Everything is Exciting All at OnceSo just like that, summer is over.<br />
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Early Sunday morning 2 weeks ago, we all set our clocks back one hour, and while it was nice to have the sun come up an hour earlier, it means sunset is now officially 4:16pm and we're losing 4-5 minutes of daylight every single day until we get to the shortest days of the year in December, which are just shy of 7 hours long.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3_M6In6SidwYMOZMM0UgH_NQbmY1MXTYvuXN2_-qTsLbn65FAnkgUy7zO36PSQwQafyDAjcRDkfYW8JMO_W9LJ0V2VloDDKT0FYoANp47YKFf-JUo1TO3qhNanJGM1yQ2fh3kgNhFm1a/s1600/haar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3_M6In6SidwYMOZMM0UgH_NQbmY1MXTYvuXN2_-qTsLbn65FAnkgUy7zO36PSQwQafyDAjcRDkfYW8JMO_W9LJ0V2VloDDKT0FYoANp47YKFf-JUo1TO3qhNanJGM1yQ2fh3kgNhFm1a/s320/haar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The courier says this weather phenomenon has been<br />
haard to bear... wah wah waaaaaaaaaah.</td></tr>
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Over the last 2 weeks, the haar has been out of control. Imagine the thickest fog you've ever seen. Now imagine it in Scotland. Welcome to Haar, and lucky for us, most of it can be felt in our living room. Clay and I made a pact after our first winter in St Andrews, when we left our gas heating on CONSTANTLY and racked up over £400 in utility bills over 2 months, that we would suffer through the cold until the 1st of November, and would ONLY turn the heat on then. ADULTHOOD.<br />
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Right now, we're in limbo again with the University. For those of you who don't know about our precarious time in St Andrews, I will try to give you a short summary:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBf5R7cww1n58ya8W8c97EARnq8XGyIJyb66RIR_CP-6vD2dF7mfrhoyXS8S1huK_3lp4twVJ99GIXsFuTPpsVxb_Qb8vYWs_BqMZi24wg9MePTencjpNABXxrdpvUVrAwY6m7OLZpj-sL/s1600/IMG_6332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBf5R7cww1n58ya8W8c97EARnq8XGyIJyb66RIR_CP-6vD2dF7mfrhoyXS8S1huK_3lp4twVJ99GIXsFuTPpsVxb_Qb8vYWs_BqMZi24wg9MePTencjpNABXxrdpvUVrAwY6m7OLZpj-sL/s320/IMG_6332.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was literally like this for 2 whole days</td></tr>
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August 2013 to March 2014 - Clay was doing the 1 year MLitt Masters to transition to PhD over the summer. He worked on his PhD thesis proposal with a certain professor, tailored it to him, and then when the time came for professors to pick their PhD students, this guy went on research leave... for like 4 years. Soooo, none of the other professors were really interested in Clay's topic, plus his grades were not the best, so we just kind of hung there for a few months. They finally gave him a conditional offer, but he fell just short of one of the conditions. Luckily, the head of the school of Divinity took him on as his supervisor, said they would make him a 2nd year Masters student, and then the next summer, would evaluate him again for PhD.<br />
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March 2014 to May 2015 - Clay trucked along, working on his 10,000 word GRO (1st chapter of his proposed PhD thesis) reeeeeeaaaalllly liked his supervisor, and submitted in the Spring in the hopes that they would upgrade him. In May, we heard back that one of the markers of his GRO was not really happy with it, and just said to let him finish the Masters and be done. No PhD. We were devastated, and also terrified, because we love Scotland and have put down roots here, and didn't really have a plan B. Fortunately, Dr. Supervisor told Clay, "Don't worry. I want to keep you here. Finish your 40,000-word Masters dissertation, and then in September, we'll evaluate you to upgrade."<br />
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May 2015 to Present - So Clay wrote a billion words in 4 months, submitted it (in spite of his Mac dying 4 days before his submission date!!!) and Dr. Supervisor has now said that Clay will Viva (fancy University speak for 'Defending his Paper') on the 10th of November in order to upgrade.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2VzXX-30VHYaX8Fz04CSMaFbdMXnLHm_NLHvlJ8CC1JJugtAvLn3UVR9A62uatkgw0t0b0qkpbYDnVGq6sZoC-VzxRrcfATqD_Lk0BfHyIzXm_pWdoq__f6oIkg3SFH8IF-Q4Pk7SbCn/s1600/IMG_6275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2VzXX-30VHYaX8Fz04CSMaFbdMXnLHm_NLHvlJ8CC1JJugtAvLn3UVR9A62uatkgw0t0b0qkpbYDnVGq6sZoC-VzxRrcfATqD_Lk0BfHyIzXm_pWdoq__f6oIkg3SFH8IF-Q4Pk7SbCn/s320/IMG_6275.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's autumn, yall.</td></tr>
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So this is our precarious situation. God has come through for us in every obstacle and we are so so thankful to still be here. Scotland has been such a fun time for us, and I'm sure everyone thinks everything is all sunshine and rainbows, and while it definitely IS, it certainly has not been easy. And this only scratches the surface of the issues we've had here - from not having a place to live, to Visa problems to bikes being stolen (yep - Clay's birthday bike!) to job issues. Despite all of this, we are content here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9rEgMm8TUWe8zBRttDprhCBd8GtqGCL7joFVeEebbcd9Oj18CSJ7auntFQL6_nHo5krIHTcm7g8Jp5oOr0OuOvlewwPSQ-9VjRxdmjGkgNYrKKUKwCb0cK94NmOiPwqZLAkcXFKNe4vs/s1600/IMG_6212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9rEgMm8TUWe8zBRttDprhCBd8GtqGCL7joFVeEebbcd9Oj18CSJ7auntFQL6_nHo5krIHTcm7g8Jp5oOr0OuOvlewwPSQ-9VjRxdmjGkgNYrKKUKwCb0cK94NmOiPwqZLAkcXFKNe4vs/s320/IMG_6212.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Mr. Fiat Panda!</td></tr>
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In other more positive news, Clay is on track to be licensed with the Baptist Union of Scotland hopefully sometime in the Spring, so he will be able to do full-time ministry! Since we left The Lord's Church, Clay thought he was meant for academia, but he has slowly realized that his heart is still in ministry, so we have pursued that avenue as well. We were also given a CAR by the lovely Becky Keating at church, and we're in the process of getting licensed to drive that around as well. Woohoo!<br />
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Now, we're just waiting to get through the next 2 days so we can finally have some stability in our situation. I kind of liken us to Mr. and Mrs. Bates on Downton Abbey. Oh yay, everything's good - wait, the police are here. You have to go to jail. No wait, everything's fine now! Nope, the police are back. Back in jail. Feels like that sometimes.<br />
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But we are content.<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-80658506910593108632015-08-24T03:02:00.000-07:002015-08-24T03:02:41.124-07:002 Years!I just realized I've completely missed the entire summer on my blog. Maybe it's because it DOESN'T REALLY FEEL LIKE SUMMER??<br />
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Last I wrote, it was May, we were winding up to a beautiful summer - long sunny days, the sun going down at 11pm. It was going to be amazing. Well, the past almost 3 months has proven a bit colder than normal. I think it's mostly been high 50s/low 60s, and it has legit been in the 40s at night. There have been a few nice sunny days in the high 60s, but for the most part, it's been very un-summerlike.<br />
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Last week, Clay and I celebrated 2 years in Scotland. We have a tradition: on our anniversary of living in St A, we go eat dinner at Maisha, because that's where we ended up our first day here. We got off the plane at 10am in Manchester, somehow navigated the 5-6 hours into Scotland with a dinky road map, and NEVER STOPPED FOR FOOD. I lived off of Target Caramel Cashew trail mix because that was all we had, but neither of us felt brave enough to stop anywhere and talk to anyone because we knew they would peg us as tourists. We stopped ONCE to go to the bathroom at a rest stop (which was also a little farm shop?) and I wanted to look around, and Clay refused, and was completely silent. It's so funny looking back now at how ridiculous that was. NOOOOO, they'll know we're Americans and shun us! Needless to say, when we finally arrived in St A, we were jet lagged and starving. Indian food was an easy choice and wow, was it good. So now, every year on the 15th of August, we eat Maisha, in memory of the sad, jet-lagged and terrified Americans we used to be!<br />
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Summertime in Scotland gave me bragging rights last year. It's like never ending springtime, but then you have 18 hour days, long stretches of sunshine, no mosquitos. Now, I just keep thinking about those warm summer nights in City Park in NOLA, listening to crickets and cicadas, and feeling the 90 degrees like a soft blanket while we watch the sun set. I am in desperate need of a holiday... on a warm beach somewhere. <br />
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June was pretty nice. I celebrated 1 year at the Ardgowan Hotel (I'm sure it feels like it's been longer than that for my co-workers - HA!) Mom, Dad, and Mels came to visit for a few days and we had a great time. Note to anyone booking a place to stay on AirBnB: make sure they have internet before you book it. Their place didn't and it proved to be especially difficult to do simple things like planning our time together and getting in touch with one another. But we went a few places we'd never been, like Inverness and the Edinburgh Castle, and worked a few puzzles. We also got to introduce our family to our home group, which I really loved. It's always fun when you realize that people love Jesus all over the world.<br />
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July was fun. The British Open was here, and, while work was insanely busy, I didn't really get to experience much else of the Open. I was mostly just working. But people were friendly and spent lots of money, so that's good, I guess. Will Ferrell was in St Andrews though... and I didn't see him. It was a sad sad day. Another sad sad day is that we had to say goodbye the Quentin, which has now left a maple leaf shaped hole in our home group. Missing you, buddy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8hq5lZ8TpGCD5RVsh3zcJYp6bsSNIyRZ6XLKg5lyD8zkmjrnlsNLiZ-wMsfLEJhSKslqewn8-4JimZMDoGGaCnRGpH0VeKFEkAvfEtLyvKcjZVQ1Upwj43leG75Y5lecnWnhraRbYT66w/s1600/11707856_10104637126183800_4340960797371098362_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8hq5lZ8TpGCD5RVsh3zcJYp6bsSNIyRZ6XLKg5lyD8zkmjrnlsNLiZ-wMsfLEJhSKslqewn8-4JimZMDoGGaCnRGpH0VeKFEkAvfEtLyvKcjZVQ1Upwj43leG75Y5lecnWnhraRbYT66w/s320/11707856_10104637126183800_4340960797371098362_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quentin!</td></tr>
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August so far has been weird. One of the great things about living in a university town is that you meet people from all over the world. But then, probably the worst part, they all leave just as quickly as they came. This time last year, we were worried that our homegroup numbers were dwindling down to nothing, but we had a huge influx of postgrads and our homegroup jumped to nearly 20 people, with more new people coming in and out. We've all grown so close over the last year, and the time has come where, one by one, they are all heading back to the real world. I will miss being your homegroup mom, guys!<br />
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The only other interesting that that is happening is our always precarious situation here. Will Clay get upgraded to PhD? Will our Visas ever come back saying I can work? (they did) Will Clay be doing ministry or academics? Only time will tell. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, I will be updating this blog again with good news! But for now, it's August, we're here, and we're still alive.<br />
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-34216005718817204752015-05-29T11:15:00.001-07:002015-05-29T11:22:31.697-07:00In the summer time when the weather is... cold?I'm going to start this blog with a fun story. This is part of the reason I want to live in Scotland the rest of my life.<br />
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So Clay got a bike for his 30th birthday. Lots of our friends and family chipped in to help us buy him a great bike since we walk everywhere and don't have a car here in St Andrews. So we started looking for something for me on the CHEAP. Gumtree had proven unsuccessful, even though I contacted several people about bikes that they said would 'fit a small human.' So when I finally found a great bike for £10 in Leven, just south of us in Fife, I jumped on the opportunity.<br />
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After some emails and phone calls, Clay and I caught the X58 bus to Leven and met John, the son of the guy selling us the bike. He chatted with us for a few minutes, telling us we were the first Americans he had EVER met, and then handed over the bike. When he asked how we were getting it back without a car, we told him we would just take it on the bus. He said, "Well, you have my number, so if you can't take it on the bus with you, call me and I'll drive you to St Andrews."<br />
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WHAT. I love this country.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAY-VOFFgvRVnEOxpNMz6dXkMYIrHaGEY9OA7XVoE5sV3gZ97oUDaFeG6_B51YOuCB0qQo3RChHdFSMr7YXq-Mc2qPMjjKD0ajpkA-zKIZBrCfR6Nx45IN-hJ0Wsn5jbde51U_-w3qBeFV/s1600/IMG_5254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAY-VOFFgvRVnEOxpNMz6dXkMYIrHaGEY9OA7XVoE5sV3gZ97oUDaFeG6_B51YOuCB0qQo3RChHdFSMr7YXq-Mc2qPMjjKD0ajpkA-zKIZBrCfR6Nx45IN-hJ0Wsn5jbde51U_-w3qBeFV/s400/IMG_5254.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leven</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on the Old Course at 9:30pm!</td></tr>
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So it's almost the end of May, and pseudo-summer is on its way. I say 'pseudo' because it never gets over 70 degrees. I think the high over the next 10 days is 63? That's like never-ending springtime. I haven't seen 80+ degrees since August 13, 2013 (that's when I moved here). The sun comes up at 4:33am and goes down at 9:43pm, with the sky still kinda blue at 10:45pm.<br />
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March/April/May has been fun. In March, uveitis came back in full force, but lucky for me, the NHS is STILL FREE. For everyone who says it's difficult to get an appointment because of free healthcare: I called them at 3:00pm on Sunday afternoon, and was in and out of the Dr. Vallance's office by 11:00am the next morning, and a sweet Scottish man gave me a free cup of coffee in the waiting room. I have a follow-up in July, but I'm pretty sure this most recent flare up disconnected some of my scar tissue cause now I can see a teensy bit better than before. BOOM.<br />
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April was fun. I spent the month raising money for Clay's 30th birthday bike, which was a huge success. I started watching Downton Abbey which was a glorious mistake. I have taken on some new responsibilities at work, one of which involves training and I absolutely hate it. I always feel like a weirdo trying to train people how to do things, and end up giggling a lot and them looking like a deer in headlights. This makes my masters degree in education especially ironic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvOtGOGJxPGVpePZvgdUZ0NZEbfhR54QA1JMzIGyaUpq4v_CEXuN6Kl15D1DLwH4EbV4cPnuc-j6hnbvlKk_wQfZCbra0EazQmqXnGS-S0lvFT62S-x-hMBD-xD4tLmWYJQ3ulSVEHkD1/s1600/IMG_5167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvOtGOGJxPGVpePZvgdUZ0NZEbfhR54QA1JMzIGyaUpq4v_CEXuN6Kl15D1DLwH4EbV4cPnuc-j6hnbvlKk_wQfZCbra0EazQmqXnGS-S0lvFT62S-x-hMBD-xD4tLmWYJQ3ulSVEHkD1/s320/IMG_5167.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes my work makes me feel like this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Other times, it makes me feel like this. And yes, a professional took this.</td></tr>
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May's been good. We had a weekend away with church, which was basically like extended Home Group time. Blankets, no shoes, and shenanigans. We learned a new card game, Lauren dominated everyone, and then Clay and Gavin had a paper ball fight and a snuggle. It was a really really good time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyDPBYfCTWuYWW5gfvR3WWoGUuFwdNLSAHzRHdnG_4mgEQXa8IidXwiirYaacXC4g6Pauswhca-xzKcnfDfNK01KoqLYWopFaH935k29f_EQRJjj-P55bLoIK3sEo4fdM9W2-6KNegkAG/s1600/IMG_5225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyDPBYfCTWuYWW5gfvR3WWoGUuFwdNLSAHzRHdnG_4mgEQXa8IidXwiirYaacXC4g6Pauswhca-xzKcnfDfNK01KoqLYWopFaH935k29f_EQRJjj-P55bLoIK3sEo4fdM9W2-6KNegkAG/s200/IMG_5225.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaIS4imqTiq22pzhM3taRvBRVHhoHHxZbWjoAn3U_Sk5YaEIYG_hMcBB5oDPikYhUor_PH5TKNH7bgXy1potxEtLhQh5yNZJHrxvJwk_r-occC48vydS5ZF-l2B0vri_KD-q-pHXk-hK7/s1600/IMG_5224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaIS4imqTiq22pzhM3taRvBRVHhoHHxZbWjoAn3U_Sk5YaEIYG_hMcBB5oDPikYhUor_PH5TKNH7bgXy1potxEtLhQh5yNZJHrxvJwk_r-occC48vydS5ZF-l2B0vri_KD-q-pHXk-hK7/s200/IMG_5224.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">snuggle time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jasper and Quentin at home.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jasper and Quentin at the weekend away... exactly the same.</td></tr>
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And now May is almost over. It's still cold and rainy some days (one of those days being today) but it makes the sun especially nice. Clay and I went for a nice bike ride to Tentsmuir Forest, rode around on what can only be described as a roller coaster bike path through a forest, and then saw some seals out on the beach.<br />
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Also, today is our 5th anniversary! What have we done today? Absolutely nothing. We have plans for dumpster diving (because I've already found a Microsoft Surface Tablet in the trash?) and then some dinner, where we will finally have the 5th Anniversary conversation to decide that we're still not having kids yet.<br />
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Lastly, I want to tell you about something cute that they do in Scotland. Whenever something is found on the sidewalk/pavement or in the street, people pick it up and put it somewhere prominent in hopes that the owner will come back by and find it. I can't tell you how many hats and socks and baby gloves I've seen on people's front gates or on fences. This one was particularly exciting.<br />
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Carm</div>
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Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-52096031658408451712015-03-27T09:16:00.002-07:002015-03-27T09:16:58.167-07:00A Christmas Holiday in 3 Parts: Act IIIWell, here we are. The last week in the States.<br />
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We spent the night with my grandparents again in East Point, watching football, and sleeping late. They bought us breakfast Monday at Cracker Barrell. GRITS.<br />
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That night, we continued our tradition of Farm Burger with Katie and Gabe Mick in Buckhead. I just love the story of my friendship with Katie. We found each other on this random roommate search engine in early 2005 while preparing to start at the University of Georgia in the Fall. We met randomly in person at the Laser Show at Stone Mountain, decided we would be roommates, and then lived together for exactly 4 months before I quit UGA and moved to Florida. Now, any normal person would expect us not to be friends anymore. But Katie stuck with me, and we visited each other every year, either in Suwanee or Florida or New Orleans, and were in each other's weddings. I am so so lucky to call her friend. And BONUS, Gabe and Clay get along.<br />
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Tuesday, we had dinner with Brent and Kate and CORA! The last time we saw them was our last night in Georgia at our last Braves game before we moved to Scotland. It was so great reconnecting with them, and they gave us hope for when we eventually become parents (whenever that may be in the distant future).<br />
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Wednesday we had ANOTHER great burger at Five Guys with Mr. Dad, and then went to Bethlehem to see Mels and Manda and get my hair cut. Nothing like some good sister time and a much-needed haircut.<br />
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Thursday, we had some lunch and then saw Josh Stewart, who is still alive, and has a job, a dog and a girlfriend. But he's still the same grumpy old man.<br />
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Friday, Sam and I drove to McDonough to see Kellie. Now, these two are another of my favorite friend stories. I met Sam at church in 2003 and she introduced me to Kellie. Somehow, we all stayed friends despite me moving to UGA, then to Florida, then to Nola, then to SCOTLAND! But they are a testament to how blessed I am to have friends who communicate better than I do. Sadly, there were no pictures taken. But here's a throwback so you get the idea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7guHLSR0N_5eRFeHDRbUrSQYvL02Z2eer7smZAt1iwx9IlDcN5tmReyuFomwLvAe77jSpjR4LnmvvUFLEG-ZoXtMZ_-dXfxwYlhQ-jwwFU43fGqC-FfnraXlURnVcYdLlsJyi_lYB8F0/s1600/10929545_10101169907607699_4785542261598296932_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7guHLSR0N_5eRFeHDRbUrSQYvL02Z2eer7smZAt1iwx9IlDcN5tmReyuFomwLvAe77jSpjR4LnmvvUFLEG-ZoXtMZ_-dXfxwYlhQ-jwwFU43fGqC-FfnraXlURnVcYdLlsJyi_lYB8F0/s1600/10929545_10101169907607699_4785542261598296932_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>Friday night was like high school all over again. We got besties Jeff and Clay back together, we ate some Krispy Kremes, we went by the Elam's, and spent the night with the Ritchies. Our last full day in the States started with Chick-fil-A breakfast and Mario Kart. We couldn't ask for more perfect friends.<br />
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Saturday night, we had the traditional Rowe family dinner (plus a Turner!) and then it was church Sunday, back to East Point to all-too-briefly see my Aunt Joni and Aunt Robin, and then head back to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Baby Girl International Airport. Oh, but not before Melody made me cry, as I'm getting in the car, so then I was weeping uncontrollably at the international terminal while hugging my grandparents and saying goodbye. As I thanked them for everything they had done for us for this trip, my Granama held my hands and said, "Carmen. God is taking care of you." How true.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was taking funny pictures to try to stop crying.<br />Clay was not impressed.</td></tr>
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We got business class again on the way back to Scotland, and I COULD say that nothing eventful happened... except around 10pm EST/3am GBT, CLAY NOTICED TIM HOWARD ON OUR FLIGHT BEHIND ME IN BUSINESS CLASS. I noticed him too, but not because I knew who he was, but because he had a long, homeless looking beard and I was hoping that Clay wouldn't get any ideas. When we landed in Manchester around 8am, Clay grabbed me and whispered, "TIM HOWARD IS WALKING BEHIND YOUUUUUU!" so I sneakily took photos of them walking together like they were best friends. Clay was ecstatic. We had a cuppa before catching the trains back to St A.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKuz_SNv1NICBBRbW4GFPoqqqKxyCiggAQFxaS9Ep5uB92EjSRmcnY4sRASQsCRSve4i34Irwq3748QNOl_BG1ca_pEPwyr2utmByGfVvpFwNU4HXN6S-aLjoTPOkPKXRP5k5rNUR2TyJg/s1600/IMG_4556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKuz_SNv1NICBBRbW4GFPoqqqKxyCiggAQFxaS9Ep5uB92EjSRmcnY4sRASQsCRSve4i34Irwq3748QNOl_BG1ca_pEPwyr2utmByGfVvpFwNU4HXN6S-aLjoTPOkPKXRP5k5rNUR2TyJg/s1600/IMG_4556.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, you know. Clay and his new best friend Tim Howard walking together.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay looks like he just saw a murder.</td></tr>
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Getting off the plane this time around felt completely different. We knew where we were going, how to get there, and we weren't terrified of people finding out we were Americans. All in all, a good three weeks, but we were happy to be back to real life...<br />
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TAKE HIS BRAIN!<br />
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Carm<br />
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<br />Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-80867568963695061262015-03-27T05:11:00.000-07:002015-03-27T05:11:15.270-07:00A Christmas Holiday in 3 Parts - Act IIWe spent the second week in the States in New Orleans. Now, NOLA holds a special place in our hearts. It's where some of our best friends live. It's where we spent the first 3 years of our marriage, where we worked in our first church, where we got our Masters Degrees, and where we developed our love for Mardi Gras.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Atlanta is home, but NOLA is special.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackson Square!</td></tr>
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We made the long drive from Atlanta to NOLA, and reconnected with John and Lauren. They were the amazing friends that graciously let us live with them for the last almost 4 months that we lived in NOLA, after the seminary kicked us out of married housing and we had nowhere else to go. Since we've been gone, Trindon is almost 4, and a bit more calm than the crazy 2 year old we left in 2013. They have also added a fourth member to their family, Sweet Caroline, and they are all so precious to us.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caroline!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoNnv61RRT7ZL53_on5lOw407xPNSbp4i-DEeeJXhAHBq5BgTc2vlldbmMTGDlNJ2LVdjoJjBrnFHqh7dXix1hnB1SDaK2fhwKyoPWvoUdyX5J9NfimRlwTv6YujZKe2mfbXyQ1E3ctXu/s1600/10898208_10105527799856623_3068990366384926113_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoNnv61RRT7ZL53_on5lOw407xPNSbp4i-DEeeJXhAHBq5BgTc2vlldbmMTGDlNJ2LVdjoJjBrnFHqh7dXix1hnB1SDaK2fhwKyoPWvoUdyX5J9NfimRlwTv6YujZKe2mfbXyQ1E3ctXu/s1600/10898208_10105527799856623_3068990366384926113_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty sure there were some sappy girl tears <br />shed during the fireworks just before this!</td></tr>
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A few days later, we met up with Matt and Elise, and did all the usuals: Pizza Delicious, Faubourg, Pearl Wine Co., New Years lighting things on fire on the Bayou, grilling and playing Mexican Train. We even legit sat around an entire day and just watched football. It was magical. We made our way into the French Quarter as well, and enjoyed balmy 75F/25C degree weather, wearing shorts and no socks... IN JANUARY.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfGZ8oC5_ZW0MicCffbuWAZfTjOe8O1aSnazLYXUS50OsIRFl8S5rKPT50GawCRgeh4qwqnIU-JV9LRvvwQhuFXsLaRKgBCBwk4hlrFeUerBZk7nOXdFXnQEUnP7na95rdYjFAn6zA1ZT/s1600/IMG_4431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfGZ8oC5_ZW0MicCffbuWAZfTjOe8O1aSnazLYXUS50OsIRFl8S5rKPT50GawCRgeh4qwqnIU-JV9LRvvwQhuFXsLaRKgBCBwk4hlrFeUerBZk7nOXdFXnQEUnP7na95rdYjFAn6zA1ZT/s1600/IMG_4431.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigbST3esA_BXuoa1R2AYcUTXNqtsAGjhK0wlhPthWEKoJ584wlEcW3xcMRWrvB2obQnPlUQFJyjkV-jHRbUT1nKvp8_Hk3ODpIMA3z64nA1hE_BabA8nwZzdMRvE_3XxBHepfAZsv9yo7U/s1600/IMG_4345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigbST3esA_BXuoa1R2AYcUTXNqtsAGjhK0wlhPthWEKoJ584wlEcW3xcMRWrvB2obQnPlUQFJyjkV-jHRbUT1nKvp8_Hk3ODpIMA3z64nA1hE_BabA8nwZzdMRvE_3XxBHepfAZsv9yo7U/s1600/IMG_4345.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>It's so funny how different this was than what I expected. I thought everything would be different: our friends have moved on and made other close friends, our friends with kids have had MORE KIDS, everyone's growing up. But it was almost like we had never left. Our friendships are just as strong, we still laugh hysterically together about the same stuff, and we still love each other so much. I love this.<br />
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I'm always terrified of losing people. I'm awful at keeping in touch because my ADD brain only sees the people here now and what's going on right here. With the way technology is now, I can skype or facetime or facebook, or text, or tweet everyone in my life, and yet, I neglect this. I've always felt like I deserved to lose friendships because I'm so terrible, and yet, they continue to love me, and continue to put forth effort to keep in touch. This is huge and I can't even begin to describe how blessed I feel because of it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSvr5RN_qv9RPrXHmam8zDeuYTHP48FAuviicrjLAOythAZ9Lkqvm00-aVBdO1GA8Hwy2rw1gRDhyphenhyphencAW9EOiQyQcB0CzhJ7YvYwYGW6DaTM87hzpY9PK4CUMlo6E_J0V1glaMjiNmpwEid/s1600/10906047_10202412299188147_495005155151108331_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSvr5RN_qv9RPrXHmam8zDeuYTHP48FAuviicrjLAOythAZ9Lkqvm00-aVBdO1GA8Hwy2rw1gRDhyphenhyphencAW9EOiQyQcB0CzhJ7YvYwYGW6DaTM87hzpY9PK4CUMlo6E_J0V1glaMjiNmpwEid/s1600/10906047_10202412299188147_495005155151108331_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This may look like Scotland, but don't let it fool you.<br />Those are Kentwood cows!</td></tr>
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We spent our last day in Louisiana in Kentwood at The Lord's Church. I cannot tell you the amount of love that we have for this place. We relate so much of our Scotland lives to our Kentwood lives. Country people really are the same no matter where you are. And our TLC family loves us like no other. Over the years, we've heard so many horror stories about ministry work from people we've known through seminary and beyond. Church people are not always the best people to work with. But we were blessed to have an amazing church family, who loved us despite the fact that we were far away and that Clay threw their children into garbage cans and wrestled them to the ground. This place and these people are so special to us!<br />
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After church, we trucked it back up to Atlanta in Little Yaris. Only 1 week left to go!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEIQipcwcDWL-bayRQMYPXtkS0-5KrMiOljK68D7C5EUrcs_BV-U6tLf4CqqiKQWKYN2RaLMyAc3QdTmrGVqILodPnuOdGgZDa4sCrcVWc6ngVcYP49LaBLdmFcR6fuayOcTmdwLIpljyu/s1600/IMG_4361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEIQipcwcDWL-bayRQMYPXtkS0-5KrMiOljK68D7C5EUrcs_BV-U6tLf4CqqiKQWKYN2RaLMyAc3QdTmrGVqILodPnuOdGgZDa4sCrcVWc6ngVcYP49LaBLdmFcR6fuayOcTmdwLIpljyu/s1600/IMG_4361.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Maloney - a great boss who, despite his happy face in this photo, <br />was ready to go hunting and said he 'needed to go kill something.'</td></tr>
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Carm</div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-85714390066917693622015-03-27T04:18:00.000-07:002015-03-27T04:18:00.172-07:00A Christmas Holiday in 3 Parts - Act I<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, y'all, I wrote 3 blogs about our trip back to America, and I just didn't post them for some reason. It's nearly April, so I guess it's time for me to talk about how it was...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd7L96UZO5-zdSafQGtYVcx62DPTvmN3iUPDVsyr582xTWn-GAas_avDJDpxQIghHEE_y3T6MqFRmAl0D1TSdXRZCCESgFi402XaMSSxMjwPuCw2aM3oViqkk4WgVLzM8LNO4UBo0FyyXH/s1600/IMG_4049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd7L96UZO5-zdSafQGtYVcx62DPTvmN3iUPDVsyr582xTWn-GAas_avDJDpxQIghHEE_y3T6MqFRmAl0D1TSdXRZCCESgFi402XaMSSxMjwPuCw2aM3oViqkk4WgVLzM8LNO4UBo0FyyXH/s1600/IMG_4049.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IT WAS FANTASTIC!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As you probably know, we went home for the first time in 16 months and made our grand journey all around the South in the States, trying to soak up as much America as we could. It all started with a 26 hour journey/wait for the flight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I got a great deal on a off-peak train from Leuchars to Manchester. I was pretty proud of myself, keeping an eye on ticket prices, and buying it like 16 weeks in advance saving us around </span>£<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">180. Unfortunately, "off-peak" in this situation meant leaving Leuchars at 7:47pm, arriving at Manchester Airport at 4:00am. No big deal, right? I can sleep anywhere, right?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspiJOJhS7RYqfTDN6EPLuuICayBocyp6kF8MIf4ZcQLfZwSUklAMLxRZvFO0ZlMQA_WsFmrgxZ_UCwABE3Q9XrMPA1xCproLNTKtDp9X6H_LL3Lp1MjnrqS9IeilV_5BxpPDczx6tv5hI/s1600/1506627_10100270516210772_6025986117884647468_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspiJOJhS7RYqfTDN6EPLuuICayBocyp6kF8MIf4ZcQLfZwSUklAMLxRZvFO0ZlMQA_WsFmrgxZ_UCwABE3Q9XrMPA1xCproLNTKtDp9X6H_LL3Lp1MjnrqS9IeilV_5BxpPDczx6tv5hI/s1600/1506627_10100270516210772_6025986117884647468_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">UGH. I slept on the 1st train to York. I slept on the 2nd train to Manchester. I slept sprawled out in Terminal 2, waiting for the Delta desk to open at 6:00am (while some Christmas Critters got dressed behind me? see photo attached). I slept at the gate waiting for the plane. I remember brushing my teeth in the bathroom at the airport and looking like someone threw olive oil in my hair and then stomped on my face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BUT. We got Business class! Perks of flying stand-by (and my grandmother being an amazing former employee of Delta Airlines). So began an 8 hour flight. Other than eating a 4-course meal, watching Elf and Tommy Boy and Parks and Recreation, and having a "Warm Cookie Break" halfway through the flight, it was pretty uneventful.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz5rAe2ISywAF603zSI5JHlWDRbpL68fnxMbnQiYJfVgyFeig6JmKlh7CPNEZ3f11yoBmX8O85_MJ3KaF45_auegGjxf0jt0C9epGjtxQdwjOy5Ny_NfTCBl1JkchA2qKjll54KS9mw7F7/s1600/IMG_4030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz5rAe2ISywAF603zSI5JHlWDRbpL68fnxMbnQiYJfVgyFeig6JmKlh7CPNEZ3f11yoBmX8O85_MJ3KaF45_auegGjxf0jt0C9epGjtxQdwjOy5Ny_NfTCBl1JkchA2qKjll54KS9mw7F7/s1600/IMG_4030.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wasn't kidding about that warm cookie break!!</td></tr>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UQ3eEJlX96HUE2FRqMMslTQAM1-cJlFVM25nn-q-Jb7zm2nPX6HLTLvfnMTPLqnmUfVJVzvmx-8DrgZIE8CURmUb4dxvhSlU7_IrWplTMMswDXgcrZV-UGTCLkJ71jCJH3lk4109BXzS/s1600/10475526_10152549885808027_6593992062279772984_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UQ3eEJlX96HUE2FRqMMslTQAM1-cJlFVM25nn-q-Jb7zm2nPX6HLTLvfnMTPLqnmUfVJVzvmx-8DrgZIE8CURmUb4dxvhSlU7_IrWplTMMswDXgcrZV-UGTCLkJ71jCJH3lk4109BXzS/s1600/10475526_10152549885808027_6593992062279772984_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Got to Atlanta around 3:00pm EST and so it began. My parents picked us up from the airport, and I finally got all the hugs that I wanted. We ate Chick-fil-A at the original Dwarf House in Hapeville, and I could have cried from all of the joy that I felt in my heart.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3eZ9W_oZ37lvfuKVItB6NRw5vbAhFwkqkxmTZukgqgw8lj6SL2CGAblEhqfelDsgePNAa5VDWHBFnn7klUrBOTyxoQqyBg62CS2xYhrZSHYIW0fBiimw3IufItPG6zsH7aqL3Rpr6oxG/s1600/IMG_4060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3eZ9W_oZ37lvfuKVItB6NRw5vbAhFwkqkxmTZukgqgw8lj6SL2CGAblEhqfelDsgePNAa5VDWHBFnn7klUrBOTyxoQqyBg62CS2xYhrZSHYIW0fBiimw3IufItPG6zsH7aqL3Rpr6oxG/s1600/IMG_4060.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mels, Truett, and Moo</td></tr>
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<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kw_gVRhyD3AYX4qgMb3386p9XnxSfTp8QrAboBGUxNcj6e6rULR2mJWtqCDZYHoNfbbLM5xadCTOJjGYQzsG7YZmPwpenhzxKYY1CzH2jPf1Ix6xygxPtIYjTL9ToGtd9wUGV0brLXi0/s1600/1489052_10206014096373781_591246785767345804_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kw_gVRhyD3AYX4qgMb3386p9XnxSfTp8QrAboBGUxNcj6e6rULR2mJWtqCDZYHoNfbbLM5xadCTOJjGYQzsG7YZmPwpenhzxKYY1CzH2jPf1Ix6xygxPtIYjTL9ToGtd9wUGV0brLXi0/s1600/1489052_10206014096373781_591246785767345804_n.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so began the whirlwind week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christmas Eve/Day with the Rowes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>25th</b> - To Melody's in Bethlehem to take a billion pictures in matching sock monkey pajamas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>26th</b> - Breakfast with Grandparents and Aunt Carla. Marietta with the Turners. ALL of the Turners (even the ones in Indonesia!). Like my childhood all over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>27th </b>- We ate two meals with the Stepps in two of our favorite restaurants: Fox Brother's BBQ and Farm Burger, two amazing meals that are impossible to duplicate in the UK.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>28th </b>- Church with my parents and grandparents, then Natalie's birthday party in Walnut Grove.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>29th </b>- Breakfast with my parents, and then off to NOLA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are you dizzy yet? We were. We. did. not. stop. Usually, these kinds of trips last about a week, and we're used to that. Make sure we see everyone we want to see in a tiny amount of time. But 3 weeks? and with jet lag? It was going to be interesting...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Carm</span>Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-31812346495570630852014-12-17T03:21:00.001-08:002014-12-17T03:40:14.361-08:00I am the WORSTSo, guess who is making me blog again this time?<br />
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Of course it's Peny Turner. I think her exact words were, "So... you've got all this time to blog for your job but you CAN'T EVEN UPDATE YOUR OWN BLOG??"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaTvgu-p930py0K45vk1qvFA_nvjyGqyMBmkr3i5Y-sFU6-6eougCOcjyXfJB8mMDH1Ic7CQIDthc8sEKe9aY8huz6NeNWpb5TgO0lZVPFeRyfpIXXA7XkGxQkt3unv43h4Nh6hgOWwKJ/s1600/image1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaTvgu-p930py0K45vk1qvFA_nvjyGqyMBmkr3i5Y-sFU6-6eougCOcjyXfJB8mMDH1Ic7CQIDthc8sEKe9aY8huz6NeNWpb5TgO0lZVPFeRyfpIXXA7XkGxQkt3unv43h4Nh6hgOWwKJ/s1600/image1.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I imagine Peny is making the same face as this snarky golf club topper.</td></tr>
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(If you'd like to see my work blog, check it out here: <a href="http://www.ardgowanhotel.co.uk/blog">Ardgowan Hotel Blog</a>)<br />
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Lots has happened since I last updated you on my life. It is now December, which means cold, dark days. The sun now comes up at 8:39am and goes down at 3:34pm. I'm not even kidding. The sun barely comes up, is directly in front of the window at Reception pointing INTO MY EYES around noon, and then conveniently ducks back down behind the trees around 2:00pm. Romantic sunset at 2:00pm people. The struggle is real.<br />
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Other than that, Clay has finally matriculated (as of LAST WEEK?) and we've got most things settled... in December. What a ridiculous ride this has been! What has even happened the last few months??<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDVgJU2gEqmnOxT6cr5YS8VmhQfjdyAnvLCgNBmXL2sBHOz6pYY4_uIW0sUfd3iN154NwFF2Kl3zaltSo6A5J5CqlmRw8T0TUE7wUUeqq-PLy9qA3LghPn6NTOLifTFNACr7IdSnoBejM8/s1600/image2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDVgJU2gEqmnOxT6cr5YS8VmhQfjdyAnvLCgNBmXL2sBHOz6pYY4_uIW0sUfd3iN154NwFF2Kl3zaltSo6A5J5CqlmRw8T0TUE7wUUeqq-PLy9qA3LghPn6NTOLifTFNACr7IdSnoBejM8/s1600/image2.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lade Braes in October!</td></tr>
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September and October were absolutely beautiful. I think one day, I actually wore <u>shorts</u>. ONE DAY! And I remember saying to myself, "I better actually wear shorts once this year, just to say that I did. Otherwise, my life is too ridiculous."<br />
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I've lived most of my life from March to November in shorts. Oh, Scotland.<br />
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In October, Clay got to legit speak words to Bill Murray, I got hit on by a grown up French guy, and we drove around Fife trying to find a cow for me to touch. In November, we drove as far north as we've ever been, to the base of the Highlands in Pitlochry, and drove around looking at lochs and sheep and cows.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtquH8X4IPc-pBnP-k_qntRs99Z-cOa-CcteZU_nhN2FnndlQc_bWwaN3wkFkgeA4JJSKUu3FDpClldqNL0SFdL1Y7tzxBVbYoUJaIlTnZwubXTwLV7fYYkVe_4B_KD86g9COxwmONhX5/s1600/image6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtquH8X4IPc-pBnP-k_qntRs99Z-cOa-CcteZU_nhN2FnndlQc_bWwaN3wkFkgeA4JJSKUu3FDpClldqNL0SFdL1Y7tzxBVbYoUJaIlTnZwubXTwLV7fYYkVe_4B_KD86g9COxwmONhX5/s1600/image6.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standing in someone's sheep field! RIGHT TO ROAM!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtTcvgOsYd8UJAjw5-KNJOd937V2-gemZUFcwyiIDZdeco6mNHQkpTRpy6sqVRrvFwloCk1u7IMZJFvxbwCwMz_7y3ch1PvxwGjoEsfq3u9rlmVEEsVhYeOWCvg8nxJZio-rkB9td4uYk/s1600/image7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtTcvgOsYd8UJAjw5-KNJOd937V2-gemZUFcwyiIDZdeco6mNHQkpTRpy6sqVRrvFwloCk1u7IMZJFvxbwCwMz_7y3ch1PvxwGjoEsfq3u9rlmVEEsVhYeOWCvg8nxJZio-rkB9td4uYk/s1600/image7.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how far north we got!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Life has been good. I'm enjoying my job, we're enjoying our friends, and we're exploring more around Scotland. God is definitely using this time to stretch us. We're learning to live on less, and it's been frustrating but much needed - character-building even. I have a job that I love, that pays us to live without me killing myself, and we are living on less than half of our income from the States and we're fine.<br />
<br />
I'm not gonna lie, I spent a lot of pity parties over the last year and a half being bitter about how other American St Mary's students can have kids and no jobs, and still seem to have all this money to go buy cars and go to Spain and travel home every 6 months, and yes, I'd love to live that life, but that's not where we are now.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cxacOCO8s5AHg5H_2NlRl444cz3SB4mzqm32Yz-AIH9HUdJoZZ2dcGSkZe1W7scyEcDLvEoh4DO_zNpwQVuqwejplGiWXvgxwXeHtC_dH9F4KVe4Ol4ZRUQg5fAmbFnm3cMIrlIEo15q/s1600/image4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9cxacOCO8s5AHg5H_2NlRl444cz3SB4mzqm32Yz-AIH9HUdJoZZ2dcGSkZe1W7scyEcDLvEoh4DO_zNpwQVuqwejplGiWXvgxwXeHtC_dH9F4KVe4Ol4ZRUQg5fAmbFnm3cMIrlIEo15q/s1600/image4.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These cows don't care that I don't have any money!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
All of that being said, we are skimpy on Christmas presents this year. We've bought ourselves new boots (with no holes!) and decided we're going to get a projector for our living room. After the all-day Harry Potter Marathon last month, we decided life would be more fun with a giant TV screen on one of our massive walls. Especially when we have our Lord of the Rings marathon in January... and so we can watch The Walking Dead on a giant screen!<br />
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So, if you'd like anything special from Scotland, please let us know. Otherwise, you're just getting Rowes for Christmas. No seriously. I keep having these moments of panic, thinking about disappointing people who will be expecting us to bring them goodies from Scotland. If you're expecting anything from us when we come home, please ask for it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixh1pmCYZMkE6tzbL7S_-YJ4JCav4yo40WVry3PNwzn-zX2V1WFkUUvP_TNXkXu5M0ppEk_BM9ahFoNm9EpP7vqvkoxHI2qhN09z2NVjDF_eA0Y97PbVvEwQdfVcBBZb2Omx5qifEhw9Ig/s1600/image5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixh1pmCYZMkE6tzbL7S_-YJ4JCav4yo40WVry3PNwzn-zX2V1WFkUUvP_TNXkXu5M0ppEk_BM9ahFoNm9EpP7vqvkoxHI2qhN09z2NVjDF_eA0Y97PbVvEwQdfVcBBZb2Omx5qifEhw9Ig/s1600/image5.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If I could bring you Jasper in a field, I totally would!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Oh yeah, and we're coming home in A WEEK! I still can't believe it. I'm getting 3 weeks off from work (Scotland makes sure everybody gets paid vacation, y'all) and we're bussing to Leuchars, training to Manchester, and flying to Atlanta. It will surely be a great Christmas. I will be sure to document in pictures with Moo.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, I always leave with a funny story. So here goes: Whenever we walk to get groceries, we pass the Kinnessburn, which is a little river that runs all over St Andrews and empties into the North Sea. It runs alongside this little path called the Lade Braes (which is beautiful ALL THE TIME). There's a little bridge we have to cross (which is pictured up at the top of this post) and I always look out at the Kinnessburn whenever I walk across it and think about Jurassic Park 2 when that one guy gets eaten by all those tiny dinosaurs on that little river while his buddy is listening to Mexican Restaurant music in his headphones.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dEqqAFzR3WNIknnkpazmDVI8oz3qK8Ddx4bvEjvE6l012HpLZUyBzneOQKNDmQpALQQ-5vY6auU1Br4qpi6AZ-P1j5xUUaq3m4psAowm-V1GPDMC5UORsV7dur5bH6g8tWM7neH7dOPg/s1600/image3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dEqqAFzR3WNIknnkpazmDVI8oz3qK8Ddx4bvEjvE6l012HpLZUyBzneOQKNDmQpALQQ-5vY6auU1Br4qpi6AZ-P1j5xUUaq3m4psAowm-V1GPDMC5UORsV7dur5bH6g8tWM7neH7dOPg/s1600/image3.jpeg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">**Insert pterodactyl sound here**</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Wait! Here's a video of my boss sucking a giant Scotland Spider into this fancy contraption called a Bugzooka.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzPuDVYUaFHjodDImtbyjPGob0nfcQbjyxSV_Mcqoiv23P4Wjx06Kq-iZUXZn_iPLqlDC4N5fXPELVtufkkiQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Ok, Now I'm done.<br />
<br />
Carm<br />
<br />Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-14874122731567647002014-09-28T12:43:00.000-07:002014-09-28T12:43:14.316-07:00Bah-dee-ah! Dancin' in September!This month always makes me sing Earth Wind and Fire.<br />
<br />
I'll start with the most important things. For those of you who haven't shared in my <u>constant </u>worry that we were going to be shipped back to America, consider yourselves lucky. I pretty much operate on a worst-case-scenario basis, where the world is going to end for some reason or another, and even if things are good, there is always something that my brain will worry about and try to plan for. Clay turned in his dissertation back in August and then we knew we would have to wait until October before we found out if he met the requirements for his conditional PhD offer. Lucky for us, we received unofficial word that we are going to be here for the long haul.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSyFpIUH0gTgTZSGXNJ565TQSv9t3B5CF-KP4jR_eoH4qx2x5TK2-faZYmQ1Skr6lkFq5zU5VPzycm7-BqotzdRf8EoSRBf1YnLtFHkRpUXogSSqucWSKQWJ6ABz_1ujuNKOuD3mme3g5/s1600/IMG_3506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSyFpIUH0gTgTZSGXNJ565TQSv9t3B5CF-KP4jR_eoH4qx2x5TK2-faZYmQ1Skr6lkFq5zU5VPzycm7-BqotzdRf8EoSRBf1YnLtFHkRpUXogSSqucWSKQWJ6ABz_1ujuNKOuD3mme3g5/s1600/IMG_3506.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we were going on an adventure!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
So what does that mean now? Well, for starters, we need to get Clay's marks in October, get that pesky confirmation of acceptance number from the University and then (very quickly) apply for loans and visas because... WE'RE COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! (as I'm typing this, I am envisioning myself as Kermit the Frog and how excited he gets and waves his hands around. You should imagine me like that too).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkTywarvYlmjsAR8T8wLW_4JZFLroE_Yj9wAlDfZJ9-dc5dEj6ACHiGvE6wXmJkOAT3r9SzuLEpu4KUL2iQIY_CbG67xbQbWjQ5h9zcNYrRlssGj5a3rJmHgm9FMHjEj0oYxkWZX8BNsMc/s1600/kermit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkTywarvYlmjsAR8T8wLW_4JZFLroE_Yj9wAlDfZJ9-dc5dEj6ACHiGvE6wXmJkOAT3r9SzuLEpu4KUL2iQIY_CbG67xbQbWjQ5h9zcNYrRlssGj5a3rJmHgm9FMHjEj0oYxkWZX8BNsMc/s1600/kermit.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's been over a year now since we've been home. A year since we've seen our friends and family. A year since I've driven a car and eaten Chick-fil-A. I am so excited I can barely stand it. I can't wait to hug everybody. You have no idea. I am going to cry for 3 solid weeks hugging every single person I've wanted to hug for the last year.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oq-_AA5nhnM8Wi0ZV4cQXBXWdFBZdxWGFdQOiHdTSMbrJmDcp5w2dX0dQYsqhDS5FAn8mnMl9w-qm2ZIH-U4pHzJB66SP01Eo7SBPKpAkgM3I4muV6merUdLabjdBqeB9loXEPvKVZk9/s1600/same+faces.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oq-_AA5nhnM8Wi0ZV4cQXBXWdFBZdxWGFdQOiHdTSMbrJmDcp5w2dX0dQYsqhDS5FAn8mnMl9w-qm2ZIH-U4pHzJB66SP01Eo7SBPKpAkgM3I4muV6merUdLabjdBqeB9loXEPvKVZk9/s1600/same+faces.png" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We make the same faces!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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SO - Christmas! The Ardgowan Hotel has graciously given me 3 weeks off, and I could not be more grateful for my amazing reception team for allowing me to do this! We'll be leaving (hopefully) a few days before Christmas and then staying through the 1st week in January. Gotta work out all the flight plans with my lovely grandparents and then start making plans to see EVERYBODY! If you want anything from the UK let us know and we will stuff a suitcase FULL of stuff for you!<br />
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Times are good people. Really good. Even if the days are now officially less than 12 hours long. The sun is going down at 6:55pm. I can't tell you how sad this makes me. When I get up in the morning now, it's dark! But on the plus side, there's an owl in our yard and I get to hear him at dawn and dusk. He sounds like a teeny tiny little hooty owl. I wonder if he will bring me letters from Hogwarts?<br />
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There also may be an opportunity that I may meet some celebrities this week. There's a golf tournament called the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship happening, and it's basically pros versus amateurs, which turns into celebrities. In previous years, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Phelps, Hugh Grant, and Michael Douglas have competed. The person that Clay and I are hoping shows up, however, is Bill Murray. I've heard too many stories of his shenanigans in St Andrews, and we are going to try to find him this week.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjitLNZi2kRB0d4LSfOYpj2lh_xAeqHVlOqauLWELV07rEjfeCmTdFT0JjFdv8QNgrcir2CI3cJQRinZy7UrC8_fNxi3a9F5Px0mtN261d7AN6wu6IkyWaSFFOJbvvOZdKpaWCgyhU2Y0Qr/s1600/bill-murray-660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjitLNZi2kRB0d4LSfOYpj2lh_xAeqHVlOqauLWELV07rEjfeCmTdFT0JjFdv8QNgrcir2CI3cJQRinZy7UrC8_fNxi3a9F5Px0mtN261d7AN6wu6IkyWaSFFOJbvvOZdKpaWCgyhU2Y0Qr/s1600/bill-murray-660.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Lastly, I'll tell you something hilarious that I do that my parents absolutely love. So, we live in St Andrews, right? The Birthplace of Golf? The home of the Old Course? Well, on the St Andrews Links website, they have a live camera feed of various places around the Old Course, including the Swilcan Bridge, which is the famous bridge where EVERYBODY gets their picture taken. (You saw the picture of Bill Murray and Michael Phelps up there, right?)<br />
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Well, I told my parents about this webcam, and then made the mistake of walking down on the bridge while they were looking at it. I guess it became more real when they realized they could not only FaceTime me, but also simultaneously watch me DANCE (at their command) on the Swilcan Bridge in front of God and everybody while they watched from Florida. I guess it's good proof for their friends that yes, I do indeed live in the Birthplace of Golf.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jt4qqHHnIRuPPHIQ8uQtdBx_dmJER3L5JIo9IcRH_9Mr4s29FEsIraBCXRW77y7zKgEcV3KxItuWArVSj4sihfFyYZIGw5nqF3UuKZP0Nn2qt8xPx7O3yT2ahNXeXiiunZC9gRBPOvTa/s1600/IMG_3221.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jt4qqHHnIRuPPHIQ8uQtdBx_dmJER3L5JIo9IcRH_9Mr4s29FEsIraBCXRW77y7zKgEcV3KxItuWArVSj4sihfFyYZIGw5nqF3UuKZP0Nn2qt8xPx7O3yT2ahNXeXiiunZC9gRBPOvTa/s1600/IMG_3221.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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So if anyone wants to watch me dance on the Swilcan Bridge in front of strangers, please let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.<br />
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That's all for now!<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-35520735411362885742014-08-14T03:40:00.001-07:002014-08-14T03:40:05.792-07:00Summer in Scotland<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know how sometimes you get so caught up in life that you forget to do things like blog so your mom will be happy?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpnkS5YZR4nWm6EBsnnt7_qg1fH510-201sym9FVgQg9MwiAIqQ7bH8sg7UMLAn0mEDWgGbgGhIX9aDEUwSSdhLIkFlbrZkLUtoCrfMEduAO6E3fFG1Vm2_UKWEvF9axfJdVYxjYPm-xS/s1600/photo.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpnkS5YZR4nWm6EBsnnt7_qg1fH510-201sym9FVgQg9MwiAIqQ7bH8sg7UMLAn0mEDWgGbgGhIX9aDEUwSSdhLIkFlbrZkLUtoCrfMEduAO6E3fFG1Vm2_UKWEvF9axfJdVYxjYPm-xS/s1600/photo.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many thanks to Peny Turner, AGAIN, for gently encouraging me to update my blog and keep everyone in the loop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last you heard, I was leaving Mitchell's and beginning a new journey at the Ardgowan Hotel as their Reservations and Marketing Manager. I can tell you with 100% confidence now that I was crafted by God for the customer service industry. Throughout my time in restaurant management, I was constantly torn between absolutely hating it and loving it so much that I couldn't leave. It's hard to explain, but those who love serving people can probably sympathize with me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought for the longest time that I wanted a desk job - completely the opposite of managing a restaurant. Nobody to bother me, I
could just plug away at my work and be done with it. With this new change of
pace though, I've realized that I really just love customer service... and at the
Ardgowan, I can have <u>both</u>. I can sit at a desk and I can run around doing things for people. I can serve and help people, but not at the expense of my sanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only do I absolutely love my job, but I have been able to help all kinds of people from all over the
world. I've met the President Emeritus from the University of Georgia, and he "called the dawgs" with me (and hopefully, secured Clay a job after PhD). I've met the owner of Taco Mac in Atlanta. I've been
able to help parents from all over the US feel at ease about dropping their 18 year
old freshmen off in a foreign country thousands of miles away. I get
to pretend that I have connections with restaurants to get groups of golfers
reservations on a Friday night. And I feel like, unlike when I worked in a restaurant, people really appreciate when I go above and beyond.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's be honest, nobody respects you when
you work in a restaurant. I had a Masters Degree, 7 years of experience, and was making more than most
teachers when I finished at Chick-fil-A, and still, people looked at me like "that poor girl. she probably couldn't do any better." Like, somehow, I had made a wrong life decision along the way and ended up at a restaurant because it was the only job that would have me. Some people just love to serve, and that's why I stayed for so long. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But all of that aside, things are good here at Castle Rowe. Clay has a week before he turns in his dissertation, and then we pray and pray and pray that he gets the marks to send him on to PhD. He has been getting lots of positive feedback from his supervisor, and he slowly feels better and better about it. <strike>We</strike> <i>I</i> go through waves of confidence and terror, and the great thing about it all is that we won't find out if he got the marks until about <b>a month after his PhD starts</b>. Yeah, I know. It doesn't make sense. But then that leaves us with a very short amount of time to find the money to reapply for visas and student loans. Have I mentioned the exchange rate is terrible right now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know I know. God is going to take care of us. He's done it over the past year and he'll continue to do it. Did you know a year ago today, we got on a plane and came to Scotland? We didn't have phones, we didn't know where we were going to live, we didn't even have directions from the Manchester airport to St Andrews. We just got on a plane and ended up here. It still blows my mind that we actually live in Scotland. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow, we have reservations at Maisha, the Indian restaurant where we ate our first jet-lagged and hangry meal in St Andrews. I'd say the last year has been crazy and great.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQEqW_jN7sk7sbRllxvZLrbwzRqROrvQrofKDmFZr4NiaFecbkoR9UdAYYqR14Gr6U655n0GA5ekKgZTyTC0fA7SWqSrc6IMNqwTkff6XtCTrLoqCYHRYTJNMkEDzF_PRHUZa4CikhCAlL/s1600/IMG_9717.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQEqW_jN7sk7sbRllxvZLrbwzRqROrvQrofKDmFZr4NiaFecbkoR9UdAYYqR14Gr6U655n0GA5ekKgZTyTC0fA7SWqSrc6IMNqwTkff6XtCTrLoqCYHRYTJNMkEDzF_PRHUZa4CikhCAlL/s1600/IMG_9717.jpeg" height="148" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our living room with furniture, finally</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">July was literally the sunniest and warmest I've ever seen Scotland be, but August has brought rain and shorter days. Hurricane Bertha was nice enough to scoot on by the UK, making it rainy and windy, reminding us that 1) we can never escape hurricanes, and 2) winter is coming. Scotland tricks us with long, sunny summer days, to the point where we aaaaaaaaalmost forget how bad the winter was. It's coming. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Park, our little "neighborhood," never ceases to amaze me. When we first moved in, we loved the colors of the trees around the house, then as winter moved on, you could see the hills beyond the trees and watch the haar roll in over them. As the sun came out in the spring, the whole yard was full of daffodils and now, we have blackberries beginning to ripen. We found an old abandoned stairway leading from the back of the property down to the Lade Braes, and I can't help but wonder what this place looked like in it's prime over 80 years ago. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jJd5mDVTCMWLZirBsmeOIqvny3ghvsu_E9JM2H9IzEwd4iS5RGy-6hwC7sgYAAg_pTWaZjxKfEoDHxHBpRFupQXoFh0rIRHiXpIqmVLw52RCYm1Mc-zNoh1pdx7Bmg6rK5yDEzgMXgto/s1600/IMG_3426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jJd5mDVTCMWLZirBsmeOIqvny3ghvsu_E9JM2H9IzEwd4iS5RGy-6hwC7sgYAAg_pTWaZjxKfEoDHxHBpRFupQXoFh0rIRHiXpIqmVLw52RCYm1Mc-zNoh1pdx7Bmg6rK5yDEzgMXgto/s1600/IMG_3426.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDrVYvio7K7MCxF6s8WWhd8wWnBgUr6ifu1iKMTxpZYpjaPviR1i2StS9YeDFKTldK7ylfaBJ7pLoQTPO1RAdRRJOw27Jcl-xNMMVcY4D21XggmpCoqsHjhHescS-dq5jtWImGB6HlDMk/s1600/IMG_3428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDrVYvio7K7MCxF6s8WWhd8wWnBgUr6ifu1iKMTxpZYpjaPviR1i2StS9YeDFKTldK7ylfaBJ7pLoQTPO1RAdRRJOw27Jcl-xNMMVcY4D21XggmpCoqsHjhHescS-dq5jtWImGB6HlDMk/s1600/IMG_3428.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOaymFLIalyhZRY1giVHU8APRLZ9wGDt3hXvnXu5kSkaTjyWkawNtIu-P5o7ayjp-wC6TD01qb7AnhyZDE2aWD9rjDEXfArR3NSylrP_zWip3JO43wcmvw2BgFFvnrnrWHV33naTHF6OB/s1600/IMG_3429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOaymFLIalyhZRY1giVHU8APRLZ9wGDt3hXvnXu5kSkaTjyWkawNtIu-P5o7ayjp-wC6TD01qb7AnhyZDE2aWD9rjDEXfArR3NSylrP_zWip3JO43wcmvw2BgFFvnrnrWHV33naTHF6OB/s1600/IMG_3429.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a nice place to put a chair and creep on people walking down the Lade Braes!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's hoping the next year in Scotland is just as good as the first!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll leave you with a picture of what Clay would look like if he had (my) hair and was a hipster worship leader. I can't believe he sat there and let me take pictures of this. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Carm</span></o:p></div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-73319561817392883072014-06-05T05:13:00.002-07:002014-06-05T05:13:44.338-07:00Changes!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll start with the usual info: the weather has been lovely. High 50s/low 60s, not a ton of rain. The sun is coming up at 4:30am and going down at 10:00pm - although if you're walking home from work at 3:30am, you'll start to see the sky turn light blue and pink with the sunrise. The birds sing almost non-stop because the sun is up almost non-stop. It's like a stinkin' Disney movie here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been difficult to find time to blog when you're either working or sleeping. Literally, I feel like that's all I've done in the last 2 months since I posted last. Work a billion hours, sleep a few hours, get up, and do it all over again. I've had several locals ask me if I live upstairs at Mitchell's. It would probably be easier if I did!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BUT! Things are changing, and rather rapidly, I might add. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday, I am starting a new job! I will be taking over for my good friend Mairi Bunce at the Ardgowan Hotel as their Reservations and Marketing Manager. The Bunce's are moving to Austria toward the end of the summer, and Mairi was nice enough to pass me along some info about her job. Literally, within the span of about 3 days, I was applying, interviewing, and being offered the job, which left me the fun task of trying to submit my month's required notice to my current job while my boss was on holiday for 2 1/2 weeks. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCyxU-TWs-wiQIf12P2AUJs1H8LlKbVViEDDwgrngT4QIP_7KL8R-m3z9BD2KPnLZXJ25wogGHLllIvUoPYT0J2u0IMK-oaLBtQnMxxe2h0GQdj2zg1-eyVIjxRPp94x20I3QwP8Ctjow/s1600/ardgowan-hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCyxU-TWs-wiQIf12P2AUJs1H8LlKbVViEDDwgrngT4QIP_7KL8R-m3z9BD2KPnLZXJ25wogGHLllIvUoPYT0J2u0IMK-oaLBtQnMxxe2h0GQdj2zg1-eyVIjxRPp94x20I3QwP8Ctjow/s1600/ardgowan-hotel.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am excited about this new job and the new possibilities. I have been in the restaurant industry for nearly all of my working life and have never really had the opportunity to branch out into different fields. I almost feel as though I've been doing this job already in addition to running a restaurant. I'm just ready for a change of pace. I know working 14 hours a day is difficult for anyone, but you seriously don't know exhaustion until you've been on your feet, running around a restaurant for the entirety of your 14 hour shift.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In all fairness though, I was lucky to get the job at Mitchell's. A guaranteed pay amount every month, an opportunity to serve the people of St. A, and some great friends to work with. And it came along with perfect timing... when we were getting pulled closer and closer to financial doom - meaning, either taking out another massive loan or going back to America in December. I am thankful for the time that I've had there and the skills that I've developed, and hopefully the stress I experienced will help me appreciate every other job I have for the rest of my life. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josh and me on Wine and Cheese Tuesday!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ALSO! Clay has finally gotten his offer letter for the PhD program! We were a bit worried for a while, as everyone else was getting their letters, and the professor that Clay originally wanted to work with decided to take a year of research leave. But, all he has left to do is do well on his MLitt dissertation and we're here for the long haul. We finally have some definite answers about our future here and I couldn't be more relieved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's see. What else has happened? Clay and I celebrated our fourth anniversary, we're already trying to make plans to go back to America at Christmastime, and we still don't have any children and they are not on the radar. We do have some pretty sweet names though. Newest one? Fife. What a hipster that kid's gonna be. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">what i imagine little Fife to look like! I'm positive she will have terrible eyesight like her mother and read books like her father.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I've got all the windows open in the flat and I understand now why very few places here have air conditioning. If it's 57 degrees in June. in JUNE! I also picked up a snail last night on the way home. a SNAIL!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, I've clearly run out of things. Until next time!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carmen</span>Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-56787250893527024722014-04-10T08:26:00.000-07:002014-04-10T08:26:02.437-07:00One Year. Sooooo. Anybody know what happened a year ago this week?<br />
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I'll give you a hint: It involves where we currently live and one of my eyeballs.<br />
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This time last year, we announced to our church and the world that Clay was accepted to the University of St. Andrews, we would be moving to Scotland in the fall, and then my eye decided to start eating itself from the inside.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiOp6jWOdaUBojyAlbsBS8YPYi0NS1bJbRYYNqBMPlZi7J_A-as4KKbDKg-eVgPT0atHwnnIHrI-2So5TaiDpfSW_m9pa7tjgpLakVMyJokfEPAhuBq3VWDLuNBdOW_bFd959FI2kPUVv/s1600/kate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTiOp6jWOdaUBojyAlbsBS8YPYi0NS1bJbRYYNqBMPlZi7J_A-as4KKbDKg-eVgPT0atHwnnIHrI-2So5TaiDpfSW_m9pa7tjgpLakVMyJokfEPAhuBq3VWDLuNBdOW_bFd959FI2kPUVv/s1600/kate.jpg" height="320" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kate Ryan, the frisbee champ.</td></tr>
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It doesn't feel like a year ago. I remember like it was yesterday. Got up, dropped Clay off at NOMA for work, went to CFA for my ever-hectic Saturday shift, and all my cute kitchen ladies insisted on calling me "ojo rojo" and telling me I had pinkeye. We spent the evening enjoying a lovely picnic in City Park, playing frisbee and croquet with the Solomons and the Ryan/Scott Conglomerate. All the while, my eye was getting redder and redder. Sunday, we told our church we were leaving, and I cried and hugged everyone. Monday, we went to see Jurassic Park in 3D, and that's when I could tell something was horribly wrong. I remember looking around the theater in the dark, telling Clay something was wrong with my eye.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhprtl__dC3lWOzlgjexeb1TsWce3PXj3GzZhT27WXEezl5c5FuKEuBVcozUs307iMNWEUYcXuPNSjOK0_TIAaVgEJN-cjIHKA4Rr6S1u-ukBl6lIAjUwH1NAHPgpcFwdvx-wuqfcNDsSDa/s1600/jurassic-park1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhprtl__dC3lWOzlgjexeb1TsWce3PXj3GzZhT27WXEezl5c5FuKEuBVcozUs307iMNWEUYcXuPNSjOK0_TIAaVgEJN-cjIHKA4Rr6S1u-ukBl6lIAjUwH1NAHPgpcFwdvx-wuqfcNDsSDa/s1600/jurassic-park1.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a><br />
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I'm pretty sure he said something along the lines of, "Shut up, there are 3D dinosaurs on a giant movie screen."<br />
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So began the worst week. Tried to go to work and my boss kicked me out. How I even drove home in literal blinding pain was beyond me. Misdiagnosed by a walk-in clinic, spent $100 on useless medication, and tried to go back to work. All the while, my eye got redder and more painful, to the point where I couldn't sleep and my eye clamped shut. Went BACK to the doctor, who referred me to an ophthalmologist, and that's where it all began.<br />
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Uveitis week. You've all seen my progress. So how have we progressed in Scotland?<br />
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One year later, and it's been 3 months since my last flare up. My eye still has scar tissue in it, but you can really only notice a difference in really bright or really dark spaces. One eye expands and contracts based on the lighting. The other just... stays. My vision has greatly improved. If I look at things through my bad eye, eventually it focuses and becomes clear. Just takes time. I have worn contacts regularly for over a month with no issues, and I've been off all medication and eye drops for almost 2.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TayigAoiiGpYoZxSKH4mSeuj7H0XMNWohgWpVq230YQwIBXUZp5kqm_ZyF1JLRw8TTYPH5PC0HIsKkO-SKRORfviA4SM_R2O1CnKjDqtxcZ3dQBBu40sSm87hvmrjcviP0z0Ve9BaW7I/s1600/IMG_2827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TayigAoiiGpYoZxSKH4mSeuj7H0XMNWohgWpVq230YQwIBXUZp5kqm_ZyF1JLRw8TTYPH5PC0HIsKkO-SKRORfviA4SM_R2O1CnKjDqtxcZ3dQBBu40sSm87hvmrjcviP0z0Ve9BaW7I/s1600/IMG_2827.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
Looking back on the past year, it's easy to try to blame someone for my eye. Blame the walk-in clinic for misdiagnosing me, making me suffer through painful uveitis with no medication for 4 days, possibly creating irreversible damage to my eye. Blame the ophthalmologist for never taking the extra 5 minutes to listen to me talk about what my eye was doing and rushing me out without thoroughly thinking about the consequences of weaning me off eye drops so soon. Blame the rheumatologist for putting me on useless medication and giving me hope that my eye would go back to normal. Blame myself for stressing out, causing me to become sick and my antibodies to become low, making me susceptible to illness. Blame God for giving me a crazy HLA-B27 gene and not healing me like I asked all those times.<br />
<br />
Honestly, it's just one of those things. I don't know why it happened, but I'm thankful that I'm not where I was a year ago. Thankful that, even despite all the hospital visits and prescriptions and medication and pain, we still made it to Scotland and God has taken care of us in every single step. There's no way, through all of the medical and financial obstacles that we faced in those last 4 months in the States, that we would have made it here. I've done the math, I've looked at our bank accounts like a mental patient, and there's NO WAY.<br />
<br />
So I'm thankful. We could have said we made it to Scotland all on our own, but uveitis just made it that much more difficult to do it on our own. It's a fantastic miracle and a complete testament on how, despite illness or stress or impending doom, God takes care of his own.<br />
<br />
But anywho. Scotland is nice and pretty today. Right now, it's near 60 degrees, mostly sunny, and it feels heavenly. I have the windows open and everything. Ummm, and the sun goes down at 8:00! For those of you who have been in our flat, you know our living room/kitchen has these ginormous windows, and lucky for us, the sun shines into one of them the entire time it's up. I'm pretty sure while I've been writing this, I've gotten a sweet face sunburn from all the sun. Completely different from the weather 4 months ago. There are daffodils blooming everywhere and bunnies are hopping around in our front yard. The birds and seagulls are almost deafening during the day, and the lower humidity just makes it perfect.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJ_LXm-STjjGz3L5Qp6R0wLGh9gUvtmHBbZ_5eKfCJzjHf8g0eZBLU80h4Ep_gr2zg8h8FiGXZsiAGjjmjEdB5-8_IvxujEscKoLfNfIxOhWdQ2j_qy9c8K8PUd-uNoWUG4rtnUKhtn_n/s1600/IMG_2913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJ_LXm-STjjGz3L5Qp6R0wLGh9gUvtmHBbZ_5eKfCJzjHf8g0eZBLU80h4Ep_gr2zg8h8FiGXZsiAGjjmjEdB5-8_IvxujEscKoLfNfIxOhWdQ2j_qy9c8K8PUd-uNoWUG4rtnUKhtn_n/s1600/IMG_2913.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I picked these from the front yard!</td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjYZYMB5I5lPBE7_lWUR6pZFDp1JWvmH1Aqe-hk2jauazOEB9qLtfOXrNsQajfDt6VjlgEqt-aZfAWgE696g1jFSiDEWWR9Jr1n7MJLWTknay61jCdfdbaMOGoFwBgjrGv8UeKwXcjEsl/s1600/IMG_2908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjYZYMB5I5lPBE7_lWUR6pZFDp1JWvmH1Aqe-hk2jauazOEB9qLtfOXrNsQajfDt6VjlgEqt-aZfAWgE696g1jFSiDEWWR9Jr1n7MJLWTknay61jCdfdbaMOGoFwBgjrGv8UeKwXcjEsl/s1600/IMG_2908.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bunnies! and more daffodils!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But I've found over the last few weeks that there are very specific things that I miss from America. I miss hole-in-the-wall barbecue restaurants with my grandparents and cookouts with friends. I miss Braves games and the sound of crickets and cicadas. I miss going to the beach with my sister and being sunkissed and warm. I miss people-watching in the French Quarter. I miss Target. I miss Community Coffee and Chick-fil-A. I miss driving and I miss shopping and being able to go wherever and get whatever I needed within an hour because I could just drive there, shop around, and drive whatever back to my house. Such is life, huh?<br />
<br />
But Scotland is nice. I'm happy here. I'll leave you with some pictures to prove it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-y38rSmMTTASqtJhP1gGxh0VADDxJAA6cBCtWNEBUsUVWL3w6z7yhZ9rGamuotaBwV1v3bJYqkh0K2wwGEh9SevSMiBNN4QSgDwzcvmtbI9nRSM2tUe1xReO0K3Q6k3USEhY7fLPQgS4A/s1600/IMG_2761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-y38rSmMTTASqtJhP1gGxh0VADDxJAA6cBCtWNEBUsUVWL3w6z7yhZ9rGamuotaBwV1v3bJYqkh0K2wwGEh9SevSMiBNN4QSgDwzcvmtbI9nRSM2tUe1xReO0K3Q6k3USEhY7fLPQgS4A/s1600/IMG_2761.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">double rainbow on south street!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKb6xeF_guBkBkdhnEsGq3nAzvAoono7D_gYsoX1adwN-sTXQGT4qcc7fkHrb5TuD6AIJXSUnNF0MIBnWf1b8E38TZA_7UzWojXffH59brgpdOHbCNCYsc-Wqp8r63bPRTP6hwLxqq1PC_/s1600/IMG_2904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKb6xeF_guBkBkdhnEsGq3nAzvAoono7D_gYsoX1adwN-sTXQGT4qcc7fkHrb5TuD6AIJXSUnNF0MIBnWf1b8E38TZA_7UzWojXffH59brgpdOHbCNCYsc-Wqp8r63bPRTP6hwLxqq1PC_/s1600/IMG_2904.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">got these from my mom today! Foxy sweater and matching socks :)</td></tr>
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Carm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-47870075440131864632014-03-18T09:00:00.002-07:002014-03-18T09:00:39.007-07:00Spring!You know how moms are really good at encouraging you to do something without telling you "you better do this or else you're in big, big trouble?"<br />
<br />
Peny Turner told me it was time for a blog post.<br />
<br />
It's been nearly three months since I've updated everyone on my life. It's been busy but not much has really happened.<br />
<br />
January was dark and quiet in St. Andrews. Students were at home for winter holiday and the sun was coming up at 8:40 and going down at 3:55. This has taken some getting used to. Many people here told me to prepare myself for the depression that would come with all the dark after Christmas. Honestly, I think it's because they never left the house. Luckily for me, I had a job that actually got me out and doing stuff instead of sitting at home in the dark. Don't get me wrong, the fact that the sun came up TWO AND A HALF HOURS after I woke up and was down two hours BEFORE I went home was pretty sad, and what little sunlight you DID have was covered by cloud or rain or rainy cloud, but it didn't last long.<br />
<br />
January was also a slower month at Mitchell's, which meant there were many nights where it was just me on the front of the house. For those of you who have worked in a restaurant, you understand the stress of not knowing if you're going to be busy and trying to handle everything from the bar to the deli to table service on your own. It was doable, just character-building, I guess.<br />
<br />
The week before my birthday, Clayton and I took some holiday time and went to Glasgow to explore. We went to the University, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Necropolis, and some old cathedrals that made me feel like I was living out the real-life version of the Sword in the Stone or Harry Potter. It was fun to get out of St. Andrews and go somewhere we've never been.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6TC0xLB06V6-91mRXM8YqKJdlU6SZjaCBcOF4C9vPa0xIwmHewiBLI3Y5MUj6FYCha1CH4hpDPOgbc63S5Wa4GkCZy7U7PkXZf3lZhVe2Ks3W45NVKhzJ2WZgox2fv7nobTU5dnaf8CO/s1600/necro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6TC0xLB06V6-91mRXM8YqKJdlU6SZjaCBcOF4C9vPa0xIwmHewiBLI3Y5MUj6FYCha1CH4hpDPOgbc63S5Wa4GkCZy7U7PkXZf3lZhVe2Ks3W45NVKhzJ2WZgox2fv7nobTU5dnaf8CO/s1600/necro.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About to walk around on the Necropolis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6FTFiru5L7wJ0EdYrlP0SaxU-01UU1kPSiZ2CYB2fGtNf92WFrP8TtIhDGGJJcTFlERiBk-IyTGMU90_0BhMRH1Vj7TwsZPbND5GtWrVPIr16EZeAifHreG4Rs3jnGiall_GvQVThLgl/s1600/cathedral+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6FTFiru5L7wJ0EdYrlP0SaxU-01UU1kPSiZ2CYB2fGtNf92WFrP8TtIhDGGJJcTFlERiBk-IyTGMU90_0BhMRH1Vj7TwsZPbND5GtWrVPIr16EZeAifHreG4Rs3jnGiall_GvQVThLgl/s1600/cathedral+1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">inside the cathedral</td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_vIVhBGKTLAeIBZQSYoBBZaOLD8SgF3qfpI3kT-h5ezV9TUF91l9vnQXz5gQ6DJG5BUwbQmp7r2SbcATlp_BoERvFrKwkgTfhDjxl6RWtahCgjW-slm8Fe7-8TXQkSq3mE4GYrzStOSU/s1600/hogwarts+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_vIVhBGKTLAeIBZQSYoBBZaOLD8SgF3qfpI3kT-h5ezV9TUF91l9vnQXz5gQ6DJG5BUwbQmp7r2SbcATlp_BoERvFrKwkgTfhDjxl6RWtahCgjW-slm8Fe7-8TXQkSq3mE4GYrzStOSU/s1600/hogwarts+1.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is Dumbledore's office, just to give you some perspective.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6D3ifFibvOo8HdadIMSjy7WS8cwTU1pJdHkGTsi1GXw8mvW-tQsV4QDX53EU7cnaER6E57A6u1BWssnYcTKFxcluP-uKBr-8R5neEs8Xo71wl17tpufeoDwF_nk9147dg4FrhwULD-Lnr/s1600/kelvingrove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6D3ifFibvOo8HdadIMSjy7WS8cwTU1pJdHkGTsi1GXw8mvW-tQsV4QDX53EU7cnaER6E57A6u1BWssnYcTKFxcluP-uKBr-8R5neEs8Xo71wl17tpufeoDwF_nk9147dg4FrhwULD-Lnr/s1600/kelvingrove.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">inside the main room of the Kevingrove - these faces!</td></tr>
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<br />
February was busier, at work and in life in general. On my days off, Clayton and I started exploring around<br />
the city of St. Andrews and making a point to walk somewhere we'd never been. We walked the entirety of the Lade Braes (until it had us traipsing through the woods and eventually into someone's field on the outskirts of town). We walked down the entire 2 miles of West Sands beach, crunching on seashells and watching people wind surf with skateboards? We walked outside of town until we saw Highland Cows and down part the<a href="http://www.fifecoastalpath.co.uk/"> Fife Coastal Path </a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9g1A5Es49gquz2LFTUwYv4aWcNd6-HTVFxOa86FLuKtpvyop4DSTAbIxHw_wNNh0zm1pilXPZ8EajyUGXCififbUpjqPawi_7bDDT-XWnYmuWE1TIfwTUMY7NSXsNNajbUqmN1aY4Otw/s1600/adventure+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9g1A5Es49gquz2LFTUwYv4aWcNd6-HTVFxOa86FLuKtpvyop4DSTAbIxHw_wNNh0zm1pilXPZ8EajyUGXCififbUpjqPawi_7bDDT-XWnYmuWE1TIfwTUMY7NSXsNNajbUqmN1aY4Otw/s1600/adventure+1.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to touch a critter. These sheep were not having it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EUcZtOkSWvOBZ0L-Kjny1i2QbnQ8TaW7AZv6UAaqLfiPkuBcaRb2kDMUNtTt2cYB-lRAd6aFWH4PRId8u3SxdOd5k6loy8KEj9c5RxIPOUeCNAzBoC8OCsEFa9VjCbNxBAa0L8A92YqQ/s1600/adventure+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EUcZtOkSWvOBZ0L-Kjny1i2QbnQ8TaW7AZv6UAaqLfiPkuBcaRb2kDMUNtTt2cYB-lRAd6aFWH4PRId8u3SxdOd5k6loy8KEj9c5RxIPOUeCNAzBoC8OCsEFa9VjCbNxBAa0L8A92YqQ/s1600/adventure+2.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did anyone else know how GINORMOUS Highland Cows were?!</td></tr>
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Now it's March. The days are longer (sun up at 6:20 and down at 6:20!) and the sun has been out sooooooo much more. You don't realize how much the sun makes a difference in the weather until you've experienced windy Scotland at 50 degrees in the rain, the cloud, and the sun. Seriously, 50 degrees in the sun is like flip-flops and shorts weather here. I never thought I would say that, especially thinking about how cold I was the morning of Mardi Gras last year and it was 58 degrees.<br />
<br />
But our trip down the Fife Coastal Path was nice. We went Sunday after church, and lucky for us, it wasn't too windy and was sunny and warm(er than usual). We walked/hiked for about 5 hours, past the Fairmont and St. Andrews Bay Golf Course, and got to see some crazy things. Giant pieces of the rocky coast out in the water, random black cows on the path (who would NOT let me touch them!), and a very old WW2-looking bunker that we were brave enough to crawl into and walk around in it! We made some plans for eventual camping when it gets a little warmer. Should be fun!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4aEVKug4lnqfODYBewGXnLx7NYpZ3qX6l1JNi-kMNolZ_ziUTAugsTrAEaIuDoVmYKKFVb03pPiD7OSqL73GWjdPykDcEnP4QVdpBN1oXq5K6TIRF62FWNVcoAwxFk5EuPu5XCKPYfzs/s1600/image_1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4aEVKug4lnqfODYBewGXnLx7NYpZ3qX6l1JNi-kMNolZ_ziUTAugsTrAEaIuDoVmYKKFVb03pPiD7OSqL73GWjdPykDcEnP4QVdpBN1oXq5K6TIRF62FWNVcoAwxFk5EuPu5XCKPYfzs/s1600/image_1.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">climbing around with his walking stick</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8d2gLIMqXuSb3UOa4nu-SU_9C8gEdIxaIaevz2CGM93-N4ArL_Y6Wfq6WG-xAlLAXFlD_kdMG4TJBuF1VfxmsSjAVWi2Lck7NtBVmNESLFT5uXgBjlcC10LfUSzfZ_UM2k4cNDiwcSST/s1600/image_2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8d2gLIMqXuSb3UOa4nu-SU_9C8gEdIxaIaevz2CGM93-N4ArL_Y6Wfq6WG-xAlLAXFlD_kdMG4TJBuF1VfxmsSjAVWi2Lck7NtBVmNESLFT5uXgBjlcC10LfUSzfZ_UM2k4cNDiwcSST/s1600/image_2.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this was right about the time my foot sank down into the mud</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuurLL75_nm0VxcBcGDENudtPKmVhOiU2J7cQeHKkmcFQ5npf10J9S0ZXuZHnIaVAa2FxERsVZPg0WEUFnXevwUNazquj3RetwZZOx2wZllCTl3Gww1cwCNDGaqOMbC5F3kimDqXBe-0R/s1600/image_3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuurLL75_nm0VxcBcGDENudtPKmVhOiU2J7cQeHKkmcFQ5npf10J9S0ZXuZHnIaVAa2FxERsVZPg0WEUFnXevwUNazquj3RetwZZOx2wZllCTl3Gww1cwCNDGaqOMbC5F3kimDqXBe-0R/s1600/image_3.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">inside the WW2 bunker!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNRrJ1vaMGO2o5TqRXY02j0tfYaOYGBoJrgZ1lErGJ-a4HXTJjdgSFxDr24LrQOfXJbBmzDcOoGyp-MpIM4L-CKqSbBDuy0Ut330LDOoUHHPkGfUXXGPm6mBbIt567KRWa0S4tVaS5J-j/s1600/image_4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNRrJ1vaMGO2o5TqRXY02j0tfYaOYGBoJrgZ1lErGJ-a4HXTJjdgSFxDr24LrQOfXJbBmzDcOoGyp-MpIM4L-CKqSbBDuy0Ut330LDOoUHHPkGfUXXGPm6mBbIt567KRWa0S4tVaS5J-j/s1600/image_4.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is where we turned around and started back!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-HShbip8VWaIEP4OUcQth08wJ6zSOF0bCjvZuB4NkQn6CqzMln0dEgtnoougDXGO_g3Ru_RiJajNgnYKiXcv1MWMk8ns7OyKDv1NQLQdlVcjK4HkVrSgonMTChD7gdR3eDkCb6B6CVrf/s1600/image_5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-HShbip8VWaIEP4OUcQth08wJ6zSOF0bCjvZuB4NkQn6CqzMln0dEgtnoougDXGO_g3Ru_RiJajNgnYKiXcv1MWMk8ns7OyKDv1NQLQdlVcjK4HkVrSgonMTChD7gdR3eDkCb6B6CVrf/s1600/image_5.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cow selfie. I had to moo at her to get her looking at the camera. Also note how high up we were. The cows climbed up there!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxY6nru41HvVdKmcbboRQe4E_AgUgQMBNwW07KJoeb_SqhYGTjMLY3YoBCeeLzK6qvZ40USxtVMR8j7XfWR7WNQ1wt9DGoBzsLG5KNEHvvL20PH0_Q20Q8d4Z0j35V43Avj_9nJ8Yg3K5C/s1600/image_6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxY6nru41HvVdKmcbboRQe4E_AgUgQMBNwW07KJoeb_SqhYGTjMLY3YoBCeeLzK6qvZ40USxtVMR8j7XfWR7WNQ1wt9DGoBzsLG5KNEHvvL20PH0_Q20Q8d4Z0j35V43Avj_9nJ8Yg3K5C/s1600/image_6.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and then this happened. Do you see it?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEtGaxv_v-iTBs0cuslqCRv9oZnAjVERjhntdpbGtQDGuXVgb_Ez3cYYy0wF2xg8P0rH2ezgiSj-1zzSvMIKOaERn65InvTZyZ7KdidzkfKMadj_vnhJs3lSZcHY00EOd017LcVEbFqc2/s1600/image_7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEtGaxv_v-iTBs0cuslqCRv9oZnAjVERjhntdpbGtQDGuXVgb_Ez3cYYy0wF2xg8P0rH2ezgiSj-1zzSvMIKOaERn65InvTZyZ7KdidzkfKMadj_vnhJs3lSZcHY00EOd017LcVEbFqc2/s1600/image_7.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">he climbed up on the rock! WITH HIS WALKING STICK?!</td></tr>
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We're also waiting for news on PhD. For those of you who don't already know, Clayton and I came here with the understanding that the 1-year degree he is getting now (MLitt) would help him prepare for eventual PhD work. However, he still has yet to be accepted into the program. His would-have-been supervisor is on research leave and can't take on any more PhD students at the time. This is all unofficial information heard through the grapevine, and nothing is definite. We haven't heard a no, but we haven't heard a yes. It's a scary place to be, especially considering the whole reason we came here is for PhD and we dropped everything and spent everything to get here. I am praying for a quick decision, and then some amazing scholarship to fund us while we're here (yes, I believe we're staying).<br />
<br />
All that being said, I am continuing to look forward to our time here, especially when the sun comes up at 4:30am in May and all of the cheap traveling we have yet to do. Did you know we can fly to Dublin for £9.99? That's cheaper than a train ticket to anywhere. Should have some more adventures to blog about soon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCT0VbwYDOseCAQK2lO5zvSTu5zBhG3N_mluwrazdcFyNwTmph6vMPgXs_a2eKVd0clqdFTurrduFqb7unJWIULES5HnWVVM_sHmq9JkrrJgKbz_gugaBgdkLLFJ5q0f9fLfXPYRA5ufKb/s1600/IMG_2741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCT0VbwYDOseCAQK2lO5zvSTu5zBhG3N_mluwrazdcFyNwTmph6vMPgXs_a2eKVd0clqdFTurrduFqb7unJWIULES5HnWVVM_sHmq9JkrrJgKbz_gugaBgdkLLFJ5q0f9fLfXPYRA5ufKb/s1600/IMG_2741.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the lovely sunny view from the window right now!</td></tr>
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<br />
I'll leave you with a funny story. I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly cheap and I hate change. When we first moved from Crutcher #2 (AKA Burnt Bathroom Apartment) into Crutcher #4 (AKA Exactly Crutcher #2 But With Minor Annoying Differences), our toilet paper holder almost immediately came out of the drywall in the bathroom. Like, literally, ripped a hole in the wall and we had nowhere to put toilet paper. We decided to try to glue it all back together one night, and the only adhesive we had in the house was Gorilla Glue for some reason. Long story short, the Gorilla Glue only held in half of the toilet roll holder and the other half continued to rip out more drywall, making it completely pointless. So, the Gorilla Glue stayed in the bathroom for the next 2 years. One day, I was brushing my hair with my probably 10 year old hairbrush (remember how I said I was cheap and hated change?) when it completely ripped in the middle. The actual brush popped out of the stem. Time for a new hairbrush, right? WRONG. I conveniently had an effective adhesive within 12 inches of my broken brush! So I Gorilla Glued it. Now, for those of you who don't know, Gorilla Glue is the color of honey and expands a ton when it dries. So, the next morning, I woke up to find honey-colored glue puffs all around my hairbrush. So, I peeled off those puffs, and ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to say that I still use that brush. Why buy a new one when you can Gorilla Glue the one you love?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9v0dSrc9VAg2hvFJrPiv19XPFJvdUSJbFOSUPoatE4oPDmasF-Ts26gznYxL9pmmaB-MZPjyp4jLIueY7_TBrKGzdn93wkaBMl28LnwsiiOtQ5X2kY2wu4kcX1RV9rFfD9P95PBs0hjG/s1600/IMG_2742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9v0dSrc9VAg2hvFJrPiv19XPFJvdUSJbFOSUPoatE4oPDmasF-Ts26gznYxL9pmmaB-MZPjyp4jLIueY7_TBrKGzdn93wkaBMl28LnwsiiOtQ5X2kY2wu4kcX1RV9rFfD9P95PBs0hjG/s1600/IMG_2742.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we've been through so much, little brush.</td></tr>
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-33663788490868174592014-01-06T06:05:00.000-08:002014-01-06T06:05:47.945-08:00Tis the SeasonLast you heard, my parents were in town. Boy, did we have a good time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimt9qAiNzwiqqBUwH2saEo1jhF_zMa9dajauo7-ofW1qV4eHzqza-ZnEM5p02PP8H87QJK968bfFJ00zkB3Ow75bsJPRlE9ot-7_Q5NomzEiOLZBy3iVYCd-Dn_6snQG4hEGj5t374JIEf/s1600/1546291_10151848938373027_617018124_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimt9qAiNzwiqqBUwH2saEo1jhF_zMa9dajauo7-ofW1qV4eHzqza-ZnEM5p02PP8H87QJK968bfFJ00zkB3Ow75bsJPRlE9ot-7_Q5NomzEiOLZBy3iVYCd-Dn_6snQG4hEGj5t374JIEf/s1600/1546291_10151848938373027_617018124_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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We spent most of Christmas Eve wandering around St. Andrews, enjoying 40 mph winds but plenty of sun. We wandered all over, to the cathedral ruins, through St. Salvator's Quad, and then to the Old Course. Since nobody was out playing, and it was Christmas, we just walked right out onto it, to the little old bridge that Dad has been dreaming about walking on for years. Got some good pictures, and then had some fish and chips at the Tail End.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozUk0kMDgHgnc2IrbA64F5cuBeO01KPNT2e74jU-mbEwZhs8Ujp99Ji8EJB3-MI2BfhK_zLPrIzHGT3BlvlMLPooGk3JuNolVwhpwlA7fXgfIUbymFnqpdnqwBcNekeyT-R2SXg_ZyQA7/s1600/1453452_10151849036178027_645572213_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozUk0kMDgHgnc2IrbA64F5cuBeO01KPNT2e74jU-mbEwZhs8Ujp99Ji8EJB3-MI2BfhK_zLPrIzHGT3BlvlMLPooGk3JuNolVwhpwlA7fXgfIUbymFnqpdnqwBcNekeyT-R2SXg_ZyQA7/s1600/1453452_10151849036178027_645572213_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Christmas day, we went to church first thing before I had to run to work. Yes, Mitchell's was open for Christmas. Finished around 6 and made it home in time for Christmas dinner with the family. They apparently had been watching Star Trek all day. Lucky. </span><br />
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Boxing Day, we decided to trek into Edinburgh to wander around... on one of the busiest shopping days of the year! We got some good deals and explored the town for a few hours before coming back.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8BbR5WDugIZPKmmQXjy9lHSmARChiQhe8bZdNgazp2ytR6qsLU8r8r68pAF2u-dS9rO38HPx8hHjOAHvHhiWhhGRhGESjvbrM-BI5tuVMeQLZLvTlXU0FDnZ75rLiWWZ8GXpuHGwES92/s1600/1525671_10151848938493027_118021976_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8BbR5WDugIZPKmmQXjy9lHSmARChiQhe8bZdNgazp2ytR6qsLU8r8r68pAF2u-dS9rO38HPx8hHjOAHvHhiWhhGRhGESjvbrM-BI5tuVMeQLZLvTlXU0FDnZ75rLiWWZ8GXpuHGwES92/s1600/1525671_10151848938493027_118021976_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1iRwiridtmxJIyQYc7sxHrD68K9tPQSZqVWzOEMoM_aTlW7DE-OF7M-tr6CCEvykDympNK_6r0kMmDLgkz3wO9cKYiIDG4seW2I74J-ujFt5vSEm2eTe4XE_hNwER_OHqBE0Kvv4e2ro/s1600/1477653_10151848938568027_1056698385_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1iRwiridtmxJIyQYc7sxHrD68K9tPQSZqVWzOEMoM_aTlW7DE-OF7M-tr6CCEvykDympNK_6r0kMmDLgkz3wO9cKYiIDG4seW2I74J-ujFt5vSEm2eTe4XE_hNwER_OHqBE0Kvv4e2ro/s1600/1477653_10151848938568027_1056698385_n.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><br />
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Spent the last few days of their visit working. Such is the life of an adult, am I right? They had fun exploring on their own and we had dinners together. We went to church together Sunday and then sent them on their way. We had such a great time!<br />
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Now, we're back in the swing of things. Clayton is back in the Baillie room working on his PhD proposal and I'm working working working. January always makes me look back at the year and wonder if we even had a clue where we'd be today when it started.<br />
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January: Rang in the New Year with the Solomons and the Ryan/Scott Conglomerate, watching people light things on fire and push them across Bayou St. John. Went to Atlanta to spend time with family and friends, touring Turner field and seeing Sam and Danny's new grownup house. I turned 26.<br />
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February: MARDI GRAS. Did anyone else see the Bellatrix/Voldemort thing we had going on? It was beyond amazing. So good that strangers followed us around.<br />
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March: Went to the NOLA taping of America's Got Talent, and Clayton is definitely in the background of some of the shots with the judges. Got my hair cut even shorter thanks to Elise and Keeva. Went to Art in Bloom at NOMA and Kate got into Pratt. Started playing Mexican Train just about every week. Had a crawfish boil.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">heidi klum!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eAADneMVIjtymML8hjGopB6AwWh9ydQrBs6fyVBhNqa4K9oPDt8JbToyajGh9Z4D5ttFcM8PSzgopWfZJGl6XSF6Jog6ZIrKz9k2fCz13nvfU751I22AWR-vt_fS_A74MocgUd_rC5ks/s1600/426396_10102887250688323_170736699_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eAADneMVIjtymML8hjGopB6AwWh9ydQrBs6fyVBhNqa4K9oPDt8JbToyajGh9Z4D5ttFcM8PSzgopWfZJGl6XSF6Jog6ZIrKz9k2fCz13nvfU751I22AWR-vt_fS_A74MocgUd_rC5ks/s1600/426396_10102887250688323_170736699_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pratt! pratt! pratt!</td></tr>
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April: Uveitis. It hit in full force and I spent the next 4 months rotating between the ophthalmologist and rheumatologist, only for them not to find out what was wrong with me. Told our church (and everyone else) that we were moving to St. Andrews, Scotland for Clayton to work toward a PhD. Moved in with John and Lauren for the summer to save money (and wouldn't have been able to make it here without them).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUpMpowee7H6UHPsUqU90bcH1fELXfE_6BzF_UeX4P_3IzRVeHscydypRpIU1iViiilz6u5CJ2XfeQ9jECMPbXX-o2VeGix8NwZkk1a9pWFHl19wXxJo6dYIPtxTL1AEyZ8M3-99GBd0a/s1600/563720_872536428472_1830902868_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUpMpowee7H6UHPsUqU90bcH1fELXfE_6BzF_UeX4P_3IzRVeHscydypRpIU1iViiilz6u5CJ2XfeQ9jECMPbXX-o2VeGix8NwZkk1a9pWFHl19wXxJo6dYIPtxTL1AEyZ8M3-99GBd0a/s1600/563720_872536428472_1830902868_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of many afternoons spent at Dr. Fitsmorris' office.</td></tr>
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May: Said goodbye to The Lord's Church. One last hoorah with the Solomons and the Ryan/Scott Conglomerate in Pensacola. So so so much fun. Celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Had lots and lots of bloodwork done and watched my face blow up because of steroids and our savings go to doctor bills. Still had uveitis.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mZnB4r4NRwxQzH7ccZKik9TCp-BwuBilDwFb52sq5ZdR_pCjYOrDa_49YuWZt0VNo9dpZDCnJ_rUTe4DPsOfGvuqghg5PM__RSPXRfjUAMWDskgk236dEsMj-TOtC68FtaoYSyAzvgZP/s1600/972303_10102207227270700_1763244022_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mZnB4r4NRwxQzH7ccZKik9TCp-BwuBilDwFb52sq5ZdR_pCjYOrDa_49YuWZt0VNo9dpZDCnJ_rUTe4DPsOfGvuqghg5PM__RSPXRfjUAMWDskgk236dEsMj-TOtC68FtaoYSyAzvgZP/s1600/972303_10102207227270700_1763244022_n.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">brunch!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2VoVcN_ZheWT5eMh4mADQnN9Wmm9k3gPBWlFX3c1g_cNm8BV2971vKVYOxY1gfAzyLi1mhiJIF5Uk9vpEBnrNylkW5v0SlVG4AP1T1n9wEahT_RYnQpffTaCNzcKjFmsB2xeCR6td88b/s1600/972287_10102207229371490_1458632894_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2VoVcN_ZheWT5eMh4mADQnN9Wmm9k3gPBWlFX3c1g_cNm8BV2971vKVYOxY1gfAzyLi1mhiJIF5Uk9vpEBnrNylkW5v0SlVG4AP1T1n9wEahT_RYnQpffTaCNzcKjFmsB2xeCR6td88b/s1600/972287_10102207229371490_1458632894_n.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">creeper.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhdQkEb7LgtmUbUP-KUCI8_wV-2ijX3q3hFhty5JhYpjuIMRdQhYFh8rXAEDT6RUnjjtZMROtoJU7Ng-9AYP4Zs3Pycwi0GlQqU6U86xycejfrrHHz1VxhjHkzrL5jd73_pnM4txbflWF/s1600/941918_10102207228064110_753709904_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhdQkEb7LgtmUbUP-KUCI8_wV-2ijX3q3hFhty5JhYpjuIMRdQhYFh8rXAEDT6RUnjjtZMROtoJU7Ng-9AYP4Zs3Pycwi0GlQqU6U86xycejfrrHHz1VxhjHkzrL5jd73_pnM4txbflWF/s1600/941918_10102207228064110_753709904_n.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt totally makes this picture amazing!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvqkhyqKS7D0zKyFzPUMBkwfv8AdEfqkRDF_vfVatUOgupl6zSvDDHAuSYKLK-NopqkjXcZlc8vExvc21SiBxuX1WQ7k9NMjLx1xcs7bjUvdmJuX1tizZKmMAlnjU4N2nMqJrt80idcn5/s1600/935631_888409982742_813363642_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvqkhyqKS7D0zKyFzPUMBkwfv8AdEfqkRDF_vfVatUOgupl6zSvDDHAuSYKLK-NopqkjXcZlc8vExvc21SiBxuX1WQ7k9NMjLx1xcs7bjUvdmJuX1tizZKmMAlnjU4N2nMqJrt80idcn5/s1600/935631_888409982742_813363642_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3rd anniversary date!</td></tr>
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June: Moved Trev and Kate far far away. Got some new glasses. Pigged out on random things late at night because Lauren couldn't sleep and was pregnant. Had Indian food for the first time. Started freaking out because of the lack of planning for our eventual move across the world.<br />
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July: Celebrated the 4th. My last CFA Appreciation Day. Cried hysterically just about every day because we were moving. Quit CFA and cried and cried and cried some more. Went to Kentucky for Jolynne's wedding. Came back, cried some more, and moved. Spent some time with my family in PCB and saw Emily in Graceville for the first time since graduation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gl9Opa9m7ebAClVSaeCEroh_Y1NvZUQJqaDJ_vpi3U0fG1CsB1U0TTxb0moucACSFsfn88CzYNb3cGv2mBcOJui_9YCPnqpMYUjIn4O0QSUfcG9fkUASuJBUKRSjlx_w0pnJ46LuA07N/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gl9Opa9m7ebAClVSaeCEroh_Y1NvZUQJqaDJ_vpi3U0fG1CsB1U0TTxb0moucACSFsfn88CzYNb3cGv2mBcOJui_9YCPnqpMYUjIn4O0QSUfcG9fkUASuJBUKRSjlx_w0pnJ46LuA07N/s1600/photo.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my kitchen ladies!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgji5iJPfhcZfcV09DXplcu4s4NHqjtlUH8xyiFoBPdVeZ2wsYHux4_7NzdIi7YtputVVBVvI7SXScPDXhO-idPAAFAHd6khYxERd5hgzMo5QMczMJTNGvYxo36D7dBVJmqCq79MaXq8Lex/s1600/cfa+managers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgji5iJPfhcZfcV09DXplcu4s4NHqjtlUH8xyiFoBPdVeZ2wsYHux4_7NzdIi7YtputVVBVvI7SXScPDXhO-idPAAFAHd6khYxERd5hgzMo5QMczMJTNGvYxo36D7dBVJmqCq79MaXq8Lex/s1600/cfa+managers.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">managers unite!</td></tr>
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August: Spent some time in Atlanta with family and friends. Had a sweet going away party at the Ritchie's. Went to TWO Braves games. Started making plans for what eventually would get us our flat. Said goodbye to everybody, and I mean, EVERYBODY. Went to the airport, not knowing if we were getting on the flight, and got business class. Landed in Manchester without a place to stay, without transportation, without phones or GPS and just let things happen. Eventually made it to St. Andrews and stayed with Philip for 10 days. Moved in with Alex after that. Made a bunch of friends in the meantime.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">atlanta airport!</td></tr>
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September: Still no place of our own. Flat won't be ready until October. Spent most of this month being rejected for job after job after job. Watched the entire series of That 70s Show, the UK Being Human, and the first two seasons of New Girl, so that's something, I guess.<br />
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October: Moved in to our flat, even though it didn't have beds yet. Got internet and utilities set up. Watched our savings get dangerously low. Begin no-job-freakout mode. Watched the leaves change colors. Had an interview for a job with the University that was going to be perfect. Ended up not getting it. Spent a large portion of this month sitting at home watching Friends and becoming best friends with the contractors working on our flat. They were very Scottish and I had a hard time understanding them.<br />
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November: Got a job right at the last possible second before all of our money was going to be gone. Got to see my sister and Amanda and celebrate Melody's 30th birthday.<br />
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December: Got to experience our first snow, and went to Edinburgh for the first time. Watched Elf and ate Christmas pudding. Spent time with my parents and rang in the new year at work with kisses from Scottish men in kilts.<br />
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All in all, I'd say 2013 was pretty good. I'm currently sitting in the living room, watching it rain (again) and looking at the hills in the distance, thinking about all that it took for us to get here. God took care of a lot of the details and though it hasn't been ideal, we've been ok. Here's hoping 2014 is just as good (minus the uveitis).<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-79347137400075677922013-12-23T13:00:00.001-08:002013-12-23T13:00:10.442-08:00Employment and ThanksgivingAs we near closer to Christmas, I have realized that I haven't posted on here in over a month. Things have been busy, guys.<br />
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Last you heard, I got a job. I'm the Assistant Manager at Mitchell's on Market Street, and it's been challenging, exhausting, and fun. I am looking forward to learning more things and helping to alleviate some of the responsibilities of our general manager who is working a million hours and never gets time off.<br />
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Thanksgiving was great! My sister Melody and my almost-sister Amanda came to visit for a few days. Though I didn't get to spend too much time with them because of work, I think they had a great time.<br />
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We WERE able to have all of Thanksgiving Day together, so we skyped with our parents and we fixed up an amazing meal: turkey, cranberry chutney, stuffing, caramelized green beans, rolls, and pumpkin cookies. It was aaaaaaahmazing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhig9S_1tZoEp-nUMOMksihMLpID4W_h4RDwE2noWTUJIqNpY14lfu2jUhzKJkOdqdhVK6u40wKIYxxhp08GE4Pnij9QjmsPP9W_uXNuIl3MvvnpnzbGoOHaHamDCm1nb-Sy1T2KWxew6TK/s1600/Photo+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhig9S_1tZoEp-nUMOMksihMLpID4W_h4RDwE2noWTUJIqNpY14lfu2jUhzKJkOdqdhVK6u40wKIYxxhp08GE4Pnij9QjmsPP9W_uXNuIl3MvvnpnzbGoOHaHamDCm1nb-Sy1T2KWxew6TK/s1600/Photo+9.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Melody in a phone booth by our place.</td></tr>
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I always love having family around. If there's one thing you should know about my family, both my mom's side and dad's side, is that we're content just spending time together. We don't have to do anything or go anywhere, as long as we're together. I love it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5rryW5SvqpolWkvCHmJifQzOU1e13Xv_ZwW7Jfu3Ggp2sUselu7dRRSp5QyYUop0NxzZSfPebvQPMTuphX94UtCePnBxwlG3a-jBTx8wvXLbpj_qu94Jx2Ct-gIxzyMexoNUhsMxndvl/s1600/Photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5rryW5SvqpolWkvCHmJifQzOU1e13Xv_ZwW7Jfu3Ggp2sUselu7dRRSp5QyYUop0NxzZSfPebvQPMTuphX94UtCePnBxwlG3a-jBTx8wvXLbpj_qu94Jx2Ct-gIxzyMexoNUhsMxndvl/s1600/Photo+3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">napping with her birthday present.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jl-IYBgEm21Lr9ecxsVuSB0e61_1U0up6e2RlSa1p75gjmFqQuNGuzmQ8WNjBHTwfakq5X7SjjhZ2BznpwiyChi4gtbKJ6y70ebMcz_PNZVp29wD9enHEFMS9yE2oZZeRnFeFiKHgT0I/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jl-IYBgEm21Lr9ecxsVuSB0e61_1U0up6e2RlSa1p75gjmFqQuNGuzmQ8WNjBHTwfakq5X7SjjhZ2BznpwiyChi4gtbKJ6y70ebMcz_PNZVp29wD9enHEFMS9yE2oZZeRnFeFiKHgT0I/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mandy and the invisible piano-playing lion. </td></tr>
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Although, if you do anything with Melody, it's going to see movies. We saw the new Hunger Games as well (she saw it twice here). The girl loves movies.<br />
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The next week, we had a surprise blizzard. I call it a blizzard because the crazy wind was blowing the snow around so violently that everything was white. It started out very calmly and slowly. Clay and I started to freak out and take a billion pictures, texting them to family, and giggling uncontrollably. Then, about an hour later, it was snowing so hard it was blowing against the window. For someone who's spent most of her life in the South, any snow that sticks is reason to be giddy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43H12v4lMyzJhbzWlLtgQVpP94dgJVi0JWTREKd8Qz3OM1LCiSBZHZj_l3X6lSfKbpjNkke0jBPYuvTgS73V05MwJaYPxS3t7SVHkv57kV52Hb3Jrnjevkqq4Wb6-FmSp32mnpAk78bBV/s1600/Photo+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43H12v4lMyzJhbzWlLtgQVpP94dgJVi0JWTREKd8Qz3OM1LCiSBZHZj_l3X6lSfKbpjNkke0jBPYuvTgS73V05MwJaYPxS3t7SVHkv57kV52Hb3Jrnjevkqq4Wb6-FmSp32mnpAk78bBV/s1600/Photo+8.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was barely snowing here and we were positively freaking out. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmr9Vq6IADFjx9c1W35d9_zRuFsUVWJWuZZdnRdIEWE-6jFmuGptGd5YEEZOxvhUMZN72M5z5Ei5GLJtx05tvB10jcCnDzN6SzagrB9CwaXTOVORUGWFfFHHttKmU8m2LzhKR0ZluQ_WUe/s1600/snow2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmr9Vq6IADFjx9c1W35d9_zRuFsUVWJWuZZdnRdIEWE-6jFmuGptGd5YEEZOxvhUMZN72M5z5Ei5GLJtx05tvB10jcCnDzN6SzagrB9CwaXTOVORUGWFfFHHttKmU8m2LzhKR0ZluQ_WUe/s1600/snow2.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The progression of snow. I even leaned out the window into it and got snow all over me. This is huge, people.</td></tr>
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The next day, we got up early to catch the train to Edinburgh with David, Jared, and Becky... our first trip outside of the St. Andrews since we moved here. We explored probably a tiny percentage of the city but we were there about 12 hours.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3I5HE3kud9oSrZeLHrk6Mq9FDNHDaxUy4IRRyVLUk0TFzzHxWQcRm5uKf08m7I-tx1X2aT3BeJTWlDxtM7m3BxBBaNYJz5h8qPgbcvsGmH_9fq8KsZaQSxuXIk5-BJEkxjUTRoGFXd7V/s1600/Photo+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3I5HE3kud9oSrZeLHrk6Mq9FDNHDaxUy4IRRyVLUk0TFzzHxWQcRm5uKf08m7I-tx1X2aT3BeJTWlDxtM7m3BxBBaNYJz5h8qPgbcvsGmH_9fq8KsZaQSxuXIk5-BJEkxjUTRoGFXd7V/s1600/Photo+10.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">outside the castle</td></tr>
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We even hiked up this giant mountain, which was a huge, beautiful mistake (still waiting on those pictures, David). Can't wait to explore the city again when my parents are in town.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eIMzg-Qx611ju818-G4-0wFIpoZ13JwIPlT7cm_cgDt9_N9zdXkPU51yAtFYGqMe1phpKHc57hNeLYbkFV9TdoI6UhjDizMFiVo62-ZiNRIpAd7fWVc_aWo9VMjRkaXX99fUIh5vwOb2/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eIMzg-Qx611ju818-G4-0wFIpoZ13JwIPlT7cm_cgDt9_N9zdXkPU51yAtFYGqMe1phpKHc57hNeLYbkFV9TdoI6UhjDizMFiVo62-ZiNRIpAd7fWVc_aWo9VMjRkaXX99fUIh5vwOb2/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was laughing so hard at this point 1) because the boys were hiking up the steep part of the mountain and 2) because Jared was high-stepping the whole way!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVWcdahawXEJeL82EdLH8vuDnmGioRVwg_b5GQokpD9uk1F5F8vHLDvPainMlHXm49xZ1wj1U8GOvHZsjGReF5PDXEkaibe7sMt0mDYCu_-5maYpvFWinvMB6SAvqEcQrSWdEdhmBEJWO/s1600/Photo+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqVWcdahawXEJeL82EdLH8vuDnmGioRVwg_b5GQokpD9uk1F5F8vHLDvPainMlHXm49xZ1wj1U8GOvHZsjGReF5PDXEkaibe7sMt0mDYCu_-5maYpvFWinvMB6SAvqEcQrSWdEdhmBEJWO/s1600/Photo+13.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the lovely view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4bQl2tH3MbX9d6WLrDpFX4BrQUswFSoLjVtu86btmnlmiWiKMY7X73M8DOTUiaOU54R9Y6q0J9rDvhcovNGoRc9lDVuNHRAYJACEucDVA1s_vivbSsAsFGIVU0cjbY0Iebk1i2fQ-drw/s1600/Photo+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4bQl2tH3MbX9d6WLrDpFX4BrQUswFSoLjVtu86btmnlmiWiKMY7X73M8DOTUiaOU54R9Y6q0J9rDvhcovNGoRc9lDVuNHRAYJACEucDVA1s_vivbSsAsFGIVU0cjbY0Iebk1i2fQ-drw/s1600/Photo+15.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on the way back down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Other than that, I've been working my tail off at Mitchell's and Clay has been reading and writing and reading and reading some more. My parents made it into town today and we are going to spend some time together for Christmas. Dad finally gets to see the birthplace of golf! I am so excited for him.<br />
<br />
I'll leave you with a funny picture:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLpgomT67M7GLtb2yikIUb17sTXGDNmTliTkfEIRFTw_eHkKaBF-WpbTVNgFy32t4dGncItreJoXMPVi8NoUNs_L2TtaplptYE_3uqdPcoehNIEa5vF18IaDwm36x2uxl0vOLXht-IhIY/s1600/Photo+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLpgomT67M7GLtb2yikIUb17sTXGDNmTliTkfEIRFTw_eHkKaBF-WpbTVNgFy32t4dGncItreJoXMPVi8NoUNs_L2TtaplptYE_3uqdPcoehNIEa5vF18IaDwm36x2uxl0vOLXht-IhIY/s1600/Photo+16.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i found an almond under the cushion of the couch and Clay was threatening to eat it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Carm<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-45755772634523188862013-11-17T03:47:00.003-08:002013-11-17T03:47:50.445-08:00Income?Let me tell you a little story about how I finally got a job.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fife-stirling/2_5/2_5_2l.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fife-stirling/2_5/2_5_2l.JPG" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
We've really been struggling. We've compared it to standing at the edge of a cliff as we're slowly being pulled toward it. God provided the money we needed to survive here without jobs for a short time, but not indefinitely. We're nearing the end of our finances, and with no job prospects, it was beginning to wear on me especially.<br />
<br />
I felt pressure to take any job I could find, minimum wage, full-time/part-time, I didn't care. We needed to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, I'm in a position many others are in at this point in the economy: Over qualified (Master's Degree) but under-experienced. I was rejected for jobs cleaning dorm kitchens, being a restaurant dishwasher, doing part-time admin work. It got to the point where I was applying for at least 3 jobs a day, making multiple trips into town with my CV, hoping that someone would be willing to let me work. But nobody was.<br />
<br />
On top of that, I was so overcome with guilt about sitting at home and not being able to provide for us, and our impending doom because of it, that I considered just leaving. I could easily get a job in the States making enough money to survive and provide for Clay here. He wouldn't have me as a distraction, he could focus on his studies, and I wouldn't be a burden.<br />
<br />
My struggle was real. #thestruggle #lifeishard I should have bought this shirt, but I couldn't because I didn't have money.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://cdn-s3-0.wanelo.com/product/image/2749587/x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn-s3-0.wanelo.com/product/image/2749587/x200.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
A week ago Friday, I went into town yet again to talk to 3 businesses that I heard were hiring. One told me the deadline for their position was in a week, so I would have to wait. The other told me to come back in February because they already filled the position. The last was a long shot, but I gave them my CV anyway.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mitchellsdeli.co.uk/images/gallery/mitchell-deli-standrews-088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.mitchellsdeli.co.uk/images/gallery/mitchell-deli-standrews-088.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
"Could you come in for an interview this weekend?" After the months of rejection and waiting around for more rejection, I was surprised by this. Before I even made it home, they called me to come back for an interview immediately.<br />
<br />
I didn't have time to prepare or worry. I just went in and interviewed. The two managers that interviewed me reminded me of all the interviews that I had with Sam Barrow, my fellow manager at Chick-fil-A. Making jokes, laughing, asking silly questions to make me feel more comfortable. Only none of their questions stumped me. Apparently, I'm cut out for restaurant management. Who would have known? :)<br />
<br />
After the interview, they asked me to come back the following day for a trial shift. It was different than Chick-fil-A, but a lot of the same: running around, customer service, smiling and "My pleasure!" and goofing off with team members. I was overwhelmed, but learning. By the end of 4 hours, I was exhausted. How did I used to work 12 hour shifts???<br />
<br />
Checked out their dinner shift Monday and then spent the rest of the week waiting for my interview with the district manager today by hanging out with the contractors/painters/electricians that are fixing our flat. They bought me chocolate because they got brick dust all over our bedroom drilling all sorts of holes into the fireplace that used to be in the wall. They are all now my best friends.<br />
<br />
Flash forward to last Friday. Met with Nikki from the home office in Glasgow. Told her all about my skills from Chick-fil-A (she really liked that name and has no clue about anything in the US). I got a little misty thinking about my crew at CFA in Metairie and how far I'd come and how much I had grown in my time there.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/q71/s720x720/45438_501359529932284_1335476356_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/q71/s720x720/45438_501359529932284_1335476356_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Before the Scotland/USA soccer/football game was over, I had a job offer. I start Tuesday. Not quite what I expected, but lots of room for advancing and growing with the company. I am just happy to have a job.<br />
<br />
Now, why was I unemployed for almost 4 months? Why did we come to the edge of the cliff? God was preparing us for the continuing struggle: the struggle to live on less. We are making farrrrrrr less than what we made in NOLA. It's enough to pay bills, buy groceries, and give us a tiny amount left over. We've lived like this for 4 months now. We can continue to do it.<br />
<br />
SO. All that being said: Praise God I have a job, and don't expect any Christmas presents this year (or special treatment if you come visit). That means you Melody Turner.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefYuq1NwaBwPt7bkegnSAbYk2uSp7A4lrxMCOAqQD1iY_in492_bTKVvSuA6R7q5HDwT1Xx9_nnAft06j0yM8zPG6sD7tGoQ0pm2UEy08vbYEfo0iibDOr6QwAIwCt0vXTUJ6tBM6ne3G/s1600/img019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefYuq1NwaBwPt7bkegnSAbYk2uSp7A4lrxMCOAqQD1iY_in492_bTKVvSuA6R7q5HDwT1Xx9_nnAft06j0yM8zPG6sD7tGoQ0pm2UEy08vbYEfo0iibDOr6QwAIwCt0vXTUJ6tBM6ne3G/s1600/img019.jpg" height="320" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">up to no good at 6 and 3.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-40249402025196735052013-11-04T11:59:00.003-08:002013-11-04T11:59:15.363-08:00The Post Office<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post is going to be very boring to all but about 6 people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exactly 4 years ago, back in 2009, I worked at the post office on campus with some of my greatest friends. We had so many weird and funny things happen to us that we decided to blog about it. We kept it up for a whole week before someone higher up in the administration saw it and shut it down. As a matter of fact, they stormed over to the post office and yelled at us, banging their fists on the counter and telling us that our songs and quotes were "completely unprofessional." Kind of ironic, don't you think?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, before I deleted the blog, I copied and saved it onto a word document. Here it is, in all its magical glory. This is for you Patricia, Brent, and Wade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Wednesday, November 4, 2009</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post Office Blues</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well hello!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wade says that I should start this blog
from my heart, but I'm still not done drinking my coffee, so that won't really
work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
This blog is a place for us to get out all the things we whisper to each other
when all the customers leave. Yeah... I'll bet you didn't think we talked after
you guys left, did you? This will mostly likely include rants about angry,
belligerent customers, ridiculous customer quotes, the interesting conversation
topics that we have, and Brent's songs (that he most definitely is NOT making
up on the spot). We're going to try to have a quote of the day, which will be
the dumbest or funniest quote or question that we get from a customer. And if
we have more than one really bad one, we'll have a tie. That's only fair.<br />
<br />
So... enough of this beginning chit chat! Let's get rolling with the blog!<br />
<br />
Oh, and if you would like, you can drop on by and hear all of us trip over our
words today. Apparently, none of us can speak coherent English.<br />
<br />
More to come later!<br />
<br />
*Update* 10:35am<br /><br />
An anonymous person dropped off a letter for Brent today:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6s6W86MgunVfnVfJQhIzIs95Rx0bUWO9aUYRWYiT4fKN-iF6DWR4yEWRcwX5-3JsC_3loWr_3jK-IQhAWQ9MGZ5wkq3dI-exF4NXghB6KkE-h3Dvk9VYQz-uVZis-4SnumAZHC3s_Rk/s1600-h/ransom.jpg"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype
id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t"
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type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style='width:240pt;height:180pt' o:button="t">
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o:href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6s6W86MgunVfnVfJQhIzIs95Rx0bUWO9aUYRWYiT4fKN-iF6DWR4yEWRcwX5-3JsC_3loWr_3jK-IQhAWQ9MGZ5wkq3dI-exF4NXghB6KkE-h3Dvk9VYQz-uVZis-4SnumAZHC3s_Rk/s320/ransom.jpg"/>
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<br />
Apparently, someone is holding a grudge against Brent.<br />
<br />
*Update* 1:50 pm<br />
<br />
Here's our first quote of the blog!<br />
<br />
Brent: "How can I help you, ma'am?"<br />
Customer: "I need some 1 cent stamps."<br />
Brent: "How many would you like?"<br />
Customer: "We've got a bunch of 42 cent stamps. Give me $5 worth."<br />
Brent: "Ma'am, that's 500 stamps."<br />
Customer: "Oh H*** no! I don't want that many stamps!"<br />
Brent: "Well, they're 1 cent a piece..."<br />
<br />
Priceless! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Thursday, November 5, 2009</b></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://gentillypostalplus.blogspot.com/2009/11/calmer-side-of-gpp.html"><span style="color: windowtext;">The calmer side of the GPP</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesdays and
Thursdays are usually pretty boring since it is just me (Patricia) and Wade
until 2:00. But we do have meaningful conversations until Brent and Carmen come
in to start the chaos. We talk about church, politics, and anything else we can
think of to talk about. We get a little more work done during this time as
well.<br />
<br />
We also get to close for chapel from 11-12 every Tuesday and Thursday. This is
fun because we get to close down the front and take that time to sort mail, or
just relax a little. You would be amazed at the number of people who come in,
see the front gate closed and walk all the way up to the gate, just to ask,
"Are you closed?" Hmmm...what was your first clue? The gate being
down? Or maybe the lights in the front being off? Wait, I know, I bet it was
the six signs that you passed to walk up to the gate that state that we are
closed from 11-12 every Tuesday and Thursday. That was it wasn't it?<br />
<br />
*Update, 2:00<br />
<br />
Jerry Rankin came in today to buy a book of stamps. We are pleased to announce
that he is a very polite customer. Nice to know a leader of the SBC is so
respectful.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18AWKgkMrvN3BiVDG4yxUvtZgpqiIH9HCxlgvYRugys1nDyEY6OSu1xXXLUj5YPRM2azTPo83lxZqPHWD4tBP3KpesVai0Og2GuOkfNeFHdw2Q_kQLO12YPIpkpF0V7mktAp3WXfYbxU/s1600/vomiting+butterfly.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18AWKgkMrvN3BiVDG4yxUvtZgpqiIH9HCxlgvYRugys1nDyEY6OSu1xXXLUj5YPRM2azTPo83lxZqPHWD4tBP3KpesVai0Og2GuOkfNeFHdw2Q_kQLO12YPIpkpF0V7mktAp3WXfYbxU/s1600/vomiting+butterfly.htm" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Quote of
the day:<br />
<br />
Brent: "What is that? A dead flower?"<br />
Patricia: "It kind of looks like a vomiting butterfly."<br />
Wade: "It was a beautiful banana flower until you mocked it."<br />
Brent: "It DOES look like a vomiting butterfly!"<br /><br />
Here is our first Brent song:<br />
(To the tune of "Turn Around Bright Eyes" by Bonnie Tyler)<br />
<br />
Stay awake<br />
Every now and then I wanna close my eyes<br />
But I realize that I'm standing up<br />
Stay awake right now<br />
I don't wanna fall upon the floor<br />
<br />
Oh, and one last thing...Carmen and Patricia are huge college football fans,
despite it being unladylike. (Right Nikki Lively?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h2 style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Friday, November
6, 2009</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="" name="5765757043658499870"></a><a href="http://gentillypostalplus.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-getting-rid-of-britta.html"><span style="color: windowtext;">I'm getting rid of Britta...</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We here at the Post
Office would like to tell everyone that if you don't watch
"Community" Thursdays on NBC, you probably should. It's an awesome
show, hence, the title of this post. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also decided
today that we're not going to limit ourselves to merely one funniest customer
quote of the day anymore. There are just too many funny things that happen
around here that we can't pass up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First things first.
Two ladies came into the post office this morning. We'll call them Lady 1 and
Lady 2. Now, before you read anything else, you should know that Lady 1 and 2
were both dressed exactly the same. This knowledge will come in handy later in the
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Lady 1 walks up
to the counter to mail a letter and a package. Her friend, Lady 2, wanders
around the post office, looking at the signs and forms and phone books and
such. Finally, either Lady 2 got bored or realized it was much nicer outside,
and she walked out of the post office and outside. A few minutes later, Lady 1
finished her transaction, grabbed her things, and headed for the door. Then,
out of nowhere, she stopped about halfway to the door, turned to the big
windows facing the Student Center, and said, "Are you ready to go?"
She paused for a moment and then looked at Carmen, realizing that she just
asked her reflection if it was ready to go. Apparently, she thought it was her
friend Lady 2, since they were both dressed the same. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Priceless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Customer:</strong> "If I put this mail in there, will the
Postman take it out today?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Patricia:</strong> "Yes ma'am, it will be picked up
today."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Customer:</strong> "I know he'll pick it UP today, but
will it GO OUT today?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "They pick it up. That's all we
know."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh. And we also
have to mention. For a span of about 3 minutes, Patricia was complaining about
hearing drums. At about 1:00, a marching band came playing down Gentilly and
turned onto Press Drive. Sorry we didn't believe you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Patricia:</strong> "See?! I knew I heard drums! I know
I'm not crazy!!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some
interesting pictures that we took today:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACImV6vwISvP3XpcophUr3uYC5jTNK7ipQ4gLNAt5qjAGz8epdtgbzNkCYXgYU3WKiBQcD27pV6GUbIqE5sx-iCaMfapJ_30wgYBmuqyQ_Eh2WDVDeMWe0OfoucN0fm3RvSJ6dnKQedSU/s1600/smile+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACImV6vwISvP3XpcophUr3uYC5jTNK7ipQ4gLNAt5qjAGz8epdtgbzNkCYXgYU3WKiBQcD27pV6GUbIqE5sx-iCaMfapJ_30wgYBmuqyQ_Eh2WDVDeMWe0OfoucN0fm3RvSJ6dnKQedSU/s1600/smile+1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCiOlhIW1JhGPLYlBGxj1p998aCOv31SSl8V4YATTVk-dS00ZNEFfjGKWNFLIzl9tyEYsm0u-MNk6cThbPMLN5OL3KxL9A4mGczkLmDomIU2uDwVbY1nujkkPoK6c-p0JR72BW0RZ0PE/s1600-h/robbin.jpg"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carmen found a
smile! Our
mail bins are happy!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsUchNLIOyx3KUIP0iI7zS9KXj1JJBUlLagoBX5IO9Pvgj_T42MXSyFQcpS7aVJacZqgh5FaCp-kJuHTLUQXrW4pRLVJQy4zN7heGy_B1U0DPC85JqgbPS4vfhrMqSmQZhoXNIwkItzUi/s1600/robbin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsUchNLIOyx3KUIP0iI7zS9KXj1JJBUlLagoBX5IO9Pvgj_T42MXSyFQcpS7aVJacZqgh5FaCp-kJuHTLUQXrW4pRLVJQy4zN7heGy_B1U0DPC85JqgbPS4vfhrMqSmQZhoXNIwkItzUi/s1600/robbin.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is supposed to
read, "Robbin." Does anybody out there see "Robbin?" We
were all very confused. SIMPLY
UNPREDICTABLE!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Monday, November
9, 2009</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="" name="3915112284792431368"></a><a href="http://gentillypostalplus.blogspot.com/2009/11/hurricane-shmurricane.html"><span style="color: windowtext;">hurricane shmurricane.</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to Lauren
Ball for the title! yes, you did make the blog!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
How was everyone's weekend? Today is MONDAY at
the Gentilly Postal Plus! Which means 1) we get our biggest influx of mail for
the week, and 2) we'll probably have everybody and their brother coming in the
post office, asking if their letter/package/brownies/kung fu dvds/camo
rainboots/fiber one samples have arrived (and yes, we've gotten all of those
before). So don't you fret your pretty little face off just yet. By the time
you read this, you'll be halfway to Tuesday with something funny to read!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong><u>Some Interesting Employee
Conversation:</u></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Patricia:</strong>
"I think Miami is our second biggest hub."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "Second?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Patricia:</strong> "Yeah, Atlanta is the biggest
hub."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "Man, Atlanta is the hub of
everything! The hub of Coca-cola, the hub of Delta, the hub of...
awesome."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Patricia:</strong> "Stop saying, 'hub,' it sounds
dirty!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Carmen:</strong>
"Someone from a 718 area code is calling me."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "Maybe it's Ida."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "Hurricane Ida is not calling me,
Brent."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> (oblivious) "Did you hear that the
health reform bill passed the house?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "The 1 trillion dollar health reform
bill?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> (still not paying attention) "...
STATEN ISLAND!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Apparently, the area code for Staten Island is 718.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Brent:</strong>
"Soft tacos used to be 59 cents!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "Well, now they're 99 cents..."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "I remember when you could go to Taco
Bell and get like, 20,000 soft tacos for... 1000 dollars."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Brent, Patricia, and Carmen had Taco Bell for lunch, and it was amazing.
Contrary to popular urban legends, Taco Bell does not serve worse quality meat
than dog food or "Grade D" beef. There is no such thing as letter
scale for rating meat. Taco Bell is just awesome and cheap and nobody can make
sense of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Patricia:</strong> "Yope."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Carmen:</strong>
(forwarding mail) "Who is Kenneth Bramlett?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "You are!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "<em>I'm
</em>Kenneth Bramlett?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "Haha, yeah. Maybe we're all Kenneth
Bramlett in a weird way."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Carmen:</strong> "...what?!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Joey Braswell:</strong>
"Joopah doopah dippity doo."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<strong>Carmen:</strong>
"I'm glad I don't have poor eyesight, because I wouldn't be able to see
these tiny little forwarding addresses."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Brent:</strong> "Me either, I <em>hate </em>eyesight!"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
And last but not least<br />
<strong>Mail of the day:</strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This piece of mail
was delivered to a department on campus. Obviously, this person was
enthusiastic about what the school is doing and how we are involved in his or
her life. They made little notes all over the envelope to show their
appreciation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKPIQq9yZZzSFobGIK8lC-4LnF9wW7fXOzIwzLuXdPJ6cHoJ_Ul5p1bGWH_LJ9KQh0EiE7kBdFd7FG2tNp36VOKir-_gYpO_saeaP1TuzmPav5z6qSrv6G2x3n8HlufBNBgKJEjsIyijV/s1600/god's+love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKPIQq9yZZzSFobGIK8lC-4LnF9wW7fXOzIwzLuXdPJ6cHoJ_Ul5p1bGWH_LJ9KQh0EiE7kBdFd7FG2tNp36VOKir-_gYpO_saeaP1TuzmPav5z6qSrv6G2x3n8HlufBNBgKJEjsIyijV/s1600/god's+love.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">God's love kills
them everyday... ?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Tuesday,
November 10, 2009</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="" name="6470799279669699748"></a><a href="http://gentillypostalplus.blogspot.com/2009/11/today-is-day-that-will-live-in-infamy.html"><span style="color: windowtext;">today is a day that will live in infamy,</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">actually, today was
incredibly busy and we didn't have a lot of time to think about funny things or
have funny conversations. sad, right? are you sad? i'm sad.<br />
<br />
<b>Wade: </b>"Can I go to the Cafe?"<br />
<b>Patricia:</b> "Absolutely."<br />
<b>Wade:</b> "But you got to go with YOUR friend!"<br />
<b>Patricia:</b> "I <i>said </i>yes!"<br />
<br />
<b>we'll leave you with one of Brent's songs. that should hold you until tomorrow.<br />
<br />
</b>Possibility!<br />
Opportunity!<br />
You awaken me!<br />
<b>"The Untitled Hymn"<br />
<br />
</b>See y'all tomorrow!<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span></span></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Wednesday,
November 11, 2009</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="" name="5778792616397757602"></a><a href="http://gentillypostalplus.blogspot.com/2009/11/veterans-day-special.html"><span style="color: windowtext;">Veteran's Day Special</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
honor of our veterans, we have chosen to put up a high quality video of some
good ol' Post Office patriotism. Please enjoy, and go hug a veteran.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxxRB3VZlGxVgazuoFl3vZMcqVSLtp4vSkZUfs_giCF2tAeWtZohwppxoseabjezKQW8mRKUoDKPRY9zZmj_g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen</b>: “You know when people say curse words and they say,
“pardon my French?” why do they do that? Do we hate France that much?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade:</b> “I do.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen:</b> “then why were you speaking French to me earlier?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade: </b>“… it was the post office demon.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen:</b> “The post office demon was speaking French through
you?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade:</b> “Oui.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(laughing)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade</b>: “sometimes I wish I wasn’t so quick.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because today is Veteran’s Day, we had to put up a sign that
says that our mail will not be delivered or picked up today. Still, even on days like today, there are
always 2 or 3 of the same guys that come in, look at the sign, read it, and
then go check their mail anyway. Then,
after realizing there’s STILL no mail in their box, they come back and read the
sign again, and then make some joke about how mail’s not coming. Ummm… how’d you get into college again? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade:</b> (looking at Christmas cookies on Good Housekeeping)
“How do you get those silver beads on there?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen:</b> “They’re little sugar sprinkle things you can buy
from like, Michael’s or a baking store.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patricia</b>: “You can even get them from Walmart in the baking
section.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade:</b> “I’ll just put BBs on mine.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen:</b> What time does the IT lab close?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade</b>: “Your mom”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Carmen</b>: “My mom is not a time.”</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wade</b>: “Your mom transcends time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's as far as we got. And since this post is already too long, here are some great pictures to enjoy!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbfHQFRSVW-xZttN1yQo1ifMLoE3h7az-fD0DOzY8jVk1lXNPf8AvF3STJ5FKp9g9WyMvevLRB2IRpOnypanx1rG7VJjDFaoru5yVhyphenhyphen1z0SCp8bZYEEwI_tE_tK3AfkbcO24RAbGFQ6dL/s1600/GPP+Hayride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbfHQFRSVW-xZttN1yQo1ifMLoE3h7az-fD0DOzY8jVk1lXNPf8AvF3STJ5FKp9g9WyMvevLRB2IRpOnypanx1rG7VJjDFaoru5yVhyphenhyphen1z0SCp8bZYEEwI_tE_tK3AfkbcO24RAbGFQ6dL/s1600/GPP+Hayride.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our whiteboard was hilarious. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONsZ8rtB7BrIGCaHrbfoJ4GAwrki8cXT_cbs2xI6FUWNhIxGt7H0BHtJWn2LgPAPCRi9mCImdZEcUw2J6cF34T6OAKOWRU7mQFbfxRtjFVUqIJb09uSy3Zu28ICS4G06IPMpkzWbyLNEk/s1600/Photo0250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONsZ8rtB7BrIGCaHrbfoJ4GAwrki8cXT_cbs2xI6FUWNhIxGt7H0BHtJWn2LgPAPCRi9mCImdZEcUw2J6cF34T6OAKOWRU7mQFbfxRtjFVUqIJb09uSy3Zu28ICS4G06IPMpkzWbyLNEk/s1600/Photo0250.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thanksgiving!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBGdj-Gg_2AqfuLypK3-jfmOBRyDn_s2xOE_1xYRgIANuZjjtHX89apKxRL33-BrFuRDi1IuWXoGn4n_SqEXNXXu8wJjV_kLQcYh2VUt6pl90BIggTPNBBij0ngn4ATSNxPx8MHZ0hGO5/s1600/Photo0274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBGdj-Gg_2AqfuLypK3-jfmOBRyDn_s2xOE_1xYRgIANuZjjtHX89apKxRL33-BrFuRDi1IuWXoGn4n_SqEXNXXu8wJjV_kLQcYh2VUt6pl90BIggTPNBBij0ngn4ATSNxPx8MHZ0hGO5/s1600/Photo0274.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Postal Pete. The original whiteboard character. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLdKsDVTKyCn7apUrRgLBGiIidN3Y2q47jdtp5lVhXZwlzefsFtlvwSw96XsEKsO4DLMuO2843FMTvzD7FsJIb_9mblioiQnegVDyM6QJNtmG2DgB5xKLAX7OmaxxNZcja9JUiU1y4Gh0/s1600/Photo0247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLdKsDVTKyCn7apUrRgLBGiIidN3Y2q47jdtp5lVhXZwlzefsFtlvwSw96XsEKsO4DLMuO2843FMTvzD7FsJIb_9mblioiQnegVDyM6QJNtmG2DgB5xKLAX7OmaxxNZcja9JUiU1y4Gh0/s1600/Photo0247.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brent had a freakout moment and knocked these EVERYWHERE.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pV_BcD2V7003diSsOOpqcoJKH7TuiiKgFfpCF7TWYYWax21yw-BaJns25F-loQFvDCVSaoeefSLAloqVpjiqoUMDDVA2DUfHvJJNyxqcvUIM7X6OfgC2I3c5BpRzjD9qYELvjLcIPCbK/s1600/Photo0294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6pV_BcD2V7003diSsOOpqcoJKH7TuiiKgFfpCF7TWYYWax21yw-BaJns25F-loQFvDCVSaoeefSLAloqVpjiqoUMDDVA2DUfHvJJNyxqcvUIM7X6OfgC2I3c5BpRzjD9qYELvjLcIPCbK/s1600/Photo0294.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sticky meter paper. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a_g20URZOYunloc0z7_3nd7ipeMjTKx7IcIXpeZAYZKwfz1Z61Ni-M7Pj3HIRa_paYAUbX45u0V4YACYsAvU7MSOgvY485ftDcgtr-w-cs_1OQnId3fs32rwxf33pLXgjxsoeJo8gOZD/s1600/Photo0301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a_g20URZOYunloc0z7_3nd7ipeMjTKx7IcIXpeZAYZKwfz1Z61Ni-M7Pj3HIRa_paYAUbX45u0V4YACYsAvU7MSOgvY485ftDcgtr-w-cs_1OQnId3fs32rwxf33pLXgjxsoeJo8gOZD/s1600/Photo0301.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we made glasses! This was during Thanksgiving break when nobody was on campus. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguEkQZAXT2qJ1pBv4X8YT4OaYkh1IzwU4hUI5lR7Run7lXDL-PT6m7etNdAglMjVJ6mzhGeePeGPGSNP1WihyphenhyphentNGUVBxTMeDBrCq_6_sASZttYE-nu9N-YSSZGVAhguujCI0IqJWYFMRNz/s1600/Photo0338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguEkQZAXT2qJ1pBv4X8YT4OaYkh1IzwU4hUI5lR7Run7lXDL-PT6m7etNdAglMjVJ6mzhGeePeGPGSNP1WihyphenhyphentNGUVBxTMeDBrCq_6_sASZttYE-nu9N-YSSZGVAhguujCI0IqJWYFMRNz/s1600/Photo0338.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stanley, our postal guy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfhbFFxBXm2RPtKglp23uS4v3CiKK4ONrHlvsewQUMUzqLc4fOGsrHU6SgqiQMo4deZNw995bLOkOwq8wHKJMtMsLXpZRxX5cDdsRQEX_CB6OO-e4OC3PzJfNM6TvkW6a1DUsZ-r3nUJ_/s1600/Photo0354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfhbFFxBXm2RPtKglp23uS4v3CiKK4ONrHlvsewQUMUzqLc4fOGsrHU6SgqiQMo4deZNw995bLOkOwq8wHKJMtMsLXpZRxX5cDdsRQEX_CB6OO-e4OC3PzJfNM6TvkW6a1DUsZ-r3nUJ_/s1600/Photo0354.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We left our fridge outside to thaw and someone took it! This was all that was left. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6yJZieEwNIBy7tKtA8glC9EmzOe-Cyr1KFNRe-PAgSkdkPuXb4nE3xoZqXKA_jrZYTttcYwFftVRzLNJHedonfWKVw9UQhNYoReArJle5xqt-EH9PuK1nyl0x8gJ-jz7gupZ7sitAMRG/s1600/Photo0372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6yJZieEwNIBy7tKtA8glC9EmzOe-Cyr1KFNRe-PAgSkdkPuXb4nE3xoZqXKA_jrZYTttcYwFftVRzLNJHedonfWKVw9UQhNYoReArJle5xqt-EH9PuK1nyl0x8gJ-jz7gupZ7sitAMRG/s1600/Photo0372.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know what was happening, but Wade has the best smile. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB_DMMq3YQJ2_rSMjhVcjWoSFJUhyphenhyphen1zZRsjZAGiQs-C8vEI6avD_3nc7y2XJKkG89BSvBRL_CZjYiKe-daoGiGTQXMwHjxV-G7KOQafjh25dMKuyFmLv9jzsbwRXa3U4vZqq2Ul8rlRdS/s1600/Wedding+invites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB_DMMq3YQJ2_rSMjhVcjWoSFJUhyphenhyphen1zZRsjZAGiQs-C8vEI6avD_3nc7y2XJKkG89BSvBRL_CZjYiKe-daoGiGTQXMwHjxV-G7KOQafjh25dMKuyFmLv9jzsbwRXa3U4vZqq2Ul8rlRdS/s1600/Wedding+invites.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wade created our wedding invitations! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This was seriously the most fun I've ever had at a job!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Carm</span></div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-43627380254241842542013-10-27T14:13:00.001-07:002013-10-27T14:17:13.206-07:00Soup and Peter PanToday, the time has changed and I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the sun going down at 4:30 (and earlier as we get closer to Christmas). I always considered myself a cloudy/rainy day type girl, mostly because the sun burned me every time I went outside. However, being here has taught me that sun = warmth, and 50 degrees feels a whole lot better with the sun than with wind and rain and clouds. All that being said, the sun was out today, and I enjoyed the warmth flooding into our living room.<br />
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But thanks to the cold, dreary days, I have begun to enjoy making my own soup as well. Since I'm still on the job hunt, money is getting tight, and we are needing to be creative with groceries. The usual cheap staples (loaves of cheap wheat bread, rice, oatmeal, beans, pasta) are unacceptable for my Primal Husband. We've started making all kinds of soups because 1) they're warm, 2) they're filling, 3) they're cheap, and 4) leftovies.<br />
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I thought I would share our favorite soup recipe with you. It's cheap, it's awesome, and we make it at least once a week.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmz8qsgHWaf0zc6FvQzmAlJwOBq0DQGddwpo2weIwhc-tTPn3ozCYJF-oub-3nTWzJqEdMtTClZHtDCs6HWxv-NAVdu_2WsdyoFRP2MsKNy_8v57QQ5B6Cjkk8cd3wU83t601al1CxU3Z/s1600/Photo+1+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmz8qsgHWaf0zc6FvQzmAlJwOBq0DQGddwpo2weIwhc-tTPn3ozCYJF-oub-3nTWzJqEdMtTClZHtDCs6HWxv-NAVdu_2WsdyoFRP2MsKNy_8v57QQ5B6Cjkk8cd3wU83t601al1CxU3Z/s1600/Photo+1+(1).jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Chicken Veggie Soup</b></span><br />
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What You'll Need:<br />
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<ul>
<li>A whole chicken. You can do chicken breasts, but we've found whole chickens are cheaper. At Morrisons here, after about 6pm, you can get a whole cooked one for half price, which comes out to around £2.50.</li>
<li>1-2 tbs of olive oil</li>
<li>1 onion, chopped</li>
<li>3-4 (or 5 or 6 or more depending on who your husband is) garlic cloves, chopped/minced</li>
<li>2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into half-inch pieces</li>
<li>3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced</li>
<li>2 celery stalks, cut in half long ways and sliced</li>
<li>2 zucchini/courgettes, cut into little half-moons</li>
<li>1 cup or so of fresh green beans, cut into bite size pieces. </li>
<li>2 cans of chopped tomatoes</li>
<li>Your Favorite Spices, to taste (we use parsley, oregano, sage, salt, and pepper, and sometimes Tony Chacheres' Creole Seasoning if we want it spicy)</li>
<li>4 blocks of chicken stock cubes (each yielding 500ml of stock) - so roughly 2000ml stock, or about 8.5 cups. You can do more or less, this just fills up our soup pot. I make them one at a time and add them at different times throughout the process.</li>
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What To Do:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Start out by cooking your chicken in the oven. Whether it's whole or pieces, just cook it however until it's done, shred it, and set it aside. It will be the last thing you add to the soup, so it can be cooking while you start on everything else, and you can shred it while veggies are cooking.</li>
<li>Cut up your onion and garlic first and add to your soup pot with the olive oil. Turn your stove to a medium temperature and saute the onion and garlic until they are pretty soft, maybe 5-10 minutes. </li>
<li>While they saute, prepare the rest of your veggies. I divide them into groups based on how quickly they cook. We usually put beans alone, carrots and sweet potatoes together, and zucchini and celery together. </li>
<li>After your onion and garlic are soft, prepare and add 500ml of stock to the pot and throw in your green beans and spices. Bring them to a boil and let the green beans cook almost all the way. This takes forever, so if you don't mind a bit of crunch, you don't have to cook them as long.</li>
<li>When the beans are soft, add another 500ml of stock and the carrots and sweet potatoes. They will usually take about 5-10 minutes to get soft.</li>
<li>Next, add the last two batches of stock and the zucchini and celery. They don't take long to cook, and they'll get softer while it simmers.</li>
<li>At this point, you can add your chicken and tomatoes. Everything will simmer together for 10-15 minutes or so. You can add more spices for flavor and taste test everything along the way. </li>
<li>EAT THE SOUP. It's really good with cheese and Becky Michelson's homemade bread. </li>
</ul>
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Hope this recipe makes enough sense for someone to make it and enjoy it. The whole time I'm cooking it, I'm running around from checking the pot to cutting the veggies to making the stock to shredding the chicken, so I don't really think about what I'm doing. You can add whatever veggies you like or whatever is in season. But we tried it with eggplant once, and that was just weird. Like eating wet Styrofoam pillows.</div>
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RANDOM:</div>
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Also, a lot of groceries here are super cheap. This particular day, I filled up a big canvas bag with all these groceries and spent £12 and some change. 4 cans of tomatoes, two bags of puffed rice cereal, 2 litres of semi-skimmed milk, ketchup, squeezy honey, 6 sweet potatoes, a bag of onions, 3 courgettes (which is fancy for "zucchini"), 15 free-range eggs, 7 bananas, three bell peppers, 8 breakfast sausages, and a pack of 8 pork chops. I mean, really guys. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0y6fI4-WEvOamNLIhLNJdEnB-07B5SUgYJa_EeB00jNWpW6NlOUjVqs9RXvP4nsYP6bqGWvUYA1zhYwk62n8jbrQU2Y7akEPWKKAHC4H_k88pCT9dKVlbT9CtdxRporQl_a7LdwUCv0o/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0y6fI4-WEvOamNLIhLNJdEnB-07B5SUgYJa_EeB00jNWpW6NlOUjVqs9RXvP4nsYP6bqGWvUYA1zhYwk62n8jbrQU2Y7akEPWKKAHC4H_k88pCT9dKVlbT9CtdxRporQl_a7LdwUCv0o/s1600/Photo+1.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also wanted everyone to experience this. The following is a picture of a lion stuffed toy that I won in a random box of stuff at the auction last week next to a picture of my parents' cocker spaniel, Nicklaus in a lion costume. I think the resemblance is uncanny.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOUPiGGc_xLnuEjlsTptVSUMeMyydnNdmrXEDkrGcSqlUUXrjAr1i24IuJdyTw1biefaAoBX4r3cgeJuS1N9rtHc33ydu1e2rdM46PtUUD6YdRlGhUCKAW3fh79tavGlnQ0YbVGBiS_NP/s1600/Photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOUPiGGc_xLnuEjlsTptVSUMeMyydnNdmrXEDkrGcSqlUUXrjAr1i24IuJdyTw1biefaAoBX4r3cgeJuS1N9rtHc33ydu1e2rdM46PtUUD6YdRlGhUCKAW3fh79tavGlnQ0YbVGBiS_NP/s1600/Photo+2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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Lastly, as we approach Halloween, I would like you to see the best costume of all time. Our senior year of college, my friend Emily and I decided to go to Incognito (BCF's unofficial Halloween extravaganza) dressed as Peter Pan and his Shadow. We had identical costumes, except I was black from head to toe. We even had little felt hats with feathers that Emily made with duct tape and hot glue in like 4 minutes! Soooooo great. I followed her around, mimicking everything she did all night. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCS_v0QFHuoq1mf29_ZorU8ZolR_QYVXCoLX1A289lZ-6TG4QrZzMpGLnPh6_EgTZbmFAAhP62saVTVlJuLAmpoR04owiCwhrP1x_J8Ito8MqXJg5cb5QAZd5mFpmGAdMYBuyXUqwx8HA/s1600/Photo+3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="425" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't believe this was 5 years ago!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCS_v0QFHuoq1mf29_ZorU8ZolR_QYVXCoLX1A289lZ-6TG4QrZzMpGLnPh6_EgTZbmFAAhP62saVTVlJuLAmpoR04owiCwhrP1x_J8Ito8MqXJg5cb5QAZd5mFpmGAdMYBuyXUqwx8HA/s1600/Photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQKSTNu_i-aSDSFvfgdit3X5z7XBpbqZqS-o-Cm6Yu7FZE8_Rd9IFo6hp4Ixi63Jz1fzsBcf5zvm5y6zdMDVN_j7TbhfeI9bkq4HDS-WYbf7CkfEZF-yyzINUl0auFjM89pUnj7OiBf_Q/s1600/DSC08514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQKSTNu_i-aSDSFvfgdit3X5z7XBpbqZqS-o-Cm6Yu7FZE8_Rd9IFo6hp4Ixi63Jz1fzsBcf5zvm5y6zdMDVN_j7TbhfeI9bkq4HDS-WYbf7CkfEZF-yyzINUl0auFjM89pUnj7OiBf_Q/s1600/DSC08514.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She caught me!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carm</span></div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-73967716993056446802013-10-21T05:10:00.001-07:002013-10-21T05:10:48.698-07:00Starting OverWell, I delayed writing for a few reasons.<br />
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The first is that we still don't have internet in our flat. I've spent the hours of 10-3 at Starbucks just about every weekday to get things done that we needed to: Set up internet/phone access, set up electricity and gas in my name, move more money from savings to checking, search for things we need for the flat once we have an income.<br />
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We are missing some odd things from this flat. I was told when we were preparing to move (by the lovely Krisi Hillebert!) that "furnished" meant different things to different people and it's really the luck of the draw what you get. I didn't really expect this though. Since nobody has lived in this flat before us, the furnishings are bare minimum. We have two arm chairs in a giant living room. No trash bins, no cookie sheet, no hangers, no DRESSER! CLOTHES ARE EVERYWHERE!! Also, there are no drawers or cabinets in our bathrooms. TOILETRIES ARE EVERYWHERE!<br />
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We thought it was pretty ironic that, in our little seminary apartment, we had loads of stuff crammed into it, into every drawer and cabinet and closet, and now, we're in a much bigger place with probably a quarter of the things we had in Crutcher. Just feels empty.<br />
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Another reason I delayed in writing was because I was really hoping to start a new blog with a new job. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job that I interviewed for. We are both pretty bummed about it, and we don't really know what to think. We approached everything with the right heart and the right attitude. We praised God for his provision above and beyond our expectations, so it made sense that he would provide us a job above what we were willing to settle for. We were reading James and talking about faith and asking God for what we need. We earnestly asked God for this job, but it didn't come. We spent the weekend asking ourselves so many questions:<br />
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Did we not ask enough? (James 4:2)<br />
Did we ask with the wrong attitude? (James 4:3)<br />
Did God not want me to have this job?<br />
Why would God give me this interview for no reason?<br />
Should I have gotten a coffee shop job months ago and quit wasting time?<br />
Am I going to find another job?<br />
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We don't really have any answers. We are back to the drawing board. All 18 of the other jobs I applied for have fallen through.<br />
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Kind of depressing, I know. I don't want to use my blog to be sad. Just wanted to be informative. I had a lot of other things to write, but none of them really seem pressing or important. Just continue to pray that we find a job that will provide for our needs.<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-3747398304569669922013-10-07T04:57:00.001-07:002013-10-07T05:02:31.053-07:00Character<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I want to tell you a little story about this shutter. But first, let me tell you some history about Castle Rowe.<br />
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Our flat used to be the schoolhouse for the New Park Preparatory School, which encompassed the whole area around the building, including several buildings and recreational facilities. The school was founded in 1933, with 13 boys. By 1938, they began boarding students and by the 1970s, they admitted girls to the school. Here's a lovely picture of what their school kids looked like in 1983.<br />
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There was another school in the area, St. Leonards, that began accepting boys, which made recruiting difficult for New Park. Eventually, in 2005, the two schools merged into one and the few students left at New Park relocated to St. Leonards' campus. This meant the New Park School and all the surrounding buildings were left abandoned... for years.<br />
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The whole complex was boarded up, waiting to see what they were going to do with the property and the buildings. The New Part Trust decided to demolish most of the building to build affordable flats in their place. The one building, however, that they weren't going to demolish was the original schoolhouse, which they decided to renovate and turn it into a flat and maisonette to provide affordable housing to families involved in education. From what I've read, there used to be security. There were gates at the entrance to keep intruders out. But you and I both know that kids will find their way in.<br />
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Fortunately (I guess) for the trust, some lovely arsonists took care of the demolition for them. I found a local blog where someone happened to walk up on the fire.<br />
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Thank goodness the schoolhouse was spared.<br />
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After years of planning and preparing, they began building two apartment complexes on the site along with the renovations of the schoolhouse. They set off with approved building plans with an expected finish date of March 2013. Praise the Lord it wasn't ready then or it probably wouldn't have been available for us when we got here.<br />
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Less than two weeks before we were supposed to fly out (and I was in full we-don't-have-anywhere-to-live freak-out mode) we received an email from Martin who saw an advert about our need at his church. He just *happened* to be the chair of the New Park Educational Trust and they just *happened* to have a flat available for us September 1. After some further delays, I'm happy to say we are settling in to our new castle. Still a lot of issues to work out. Caulk the shower to prevent leaking. Get a timer for the boiler. Figure out why the towel radiator in the spare bathroom isn't functioning. Fix the cracks and holes in the living room ceiling.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fix the shutter in the living room. </span><br />
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Knowing the story behind the house helps you to understand why I love this little broken shutter. After the schoolhouse was boarded up in 2005, local kids began breaking in and disturbing the property. Somehow, someone made off with the shutters in the living room. (Who steals shutters?) Somehow, they FOUND THEM. Not sure where they were or who took them or what it took to find them, but they got the original shutters and put them back in, and gave em a nice white coat of paint. They are an eyesore to Martin, and he apologizes profusely for them. But I love them and their story.<br />
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They are broken. They were lost and found again. They were brought back to where they belong. Whenever I see them, I remember how God delayed the renovation of this house for it to be ready at the exact right moment. I remember how my faith got to such a low point through this whole "moving-to-Scotland, I-am-freaking-out" process as I wasn't able to plan everything so perfectly and I worried through it all. But God took broken Carmen and put her back where she belongs.<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-43545270892766982532013-09-29T01:59:00.000-07:002013-09-29T01:59:06.398-07:00NEW HOUUUUSSSSE!EVERYONE. We are moving into our flat! Slowly but surely, we are moving everything from Kilrymont over to New Park House. We had some friends who were kind enough to help us move the giant suitcases with their car (vehicles are hard to come by around these parts), and they also were giving away a futon, so we took that with us as well! Woohoo! Free stuuuuufffff!<br />
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As of right now, we have a few items of clothing and our food left at the temporary housing. It's been a fun, adventurous month and a half, but we are ready to settle in to our flat. We realized that it's been a little over 5 months since we've had our own place. That's crazy to think about.<br />
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So. Tomorrow, the chair of the New Park Trust (and also our kind-of landlord) is going to put together the rest of the furniture that has been delivered (dining table, chairs, coffee table) and put everything in its place. Our beds won't be delivered until Thursday, but we're going to just sleep on the futon and GET OVER IT.<br />
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So here comes the fun part. Get the electricity set up. Get the gas set up. Get the water set up. Get the internet set up. Yay. I looooove being a grownup. Oooooh, and I have a doctor's appointment Wednesday. Hopefully, they can give my eye a little Harry Potter fix.<br />
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Still waiting on a job. I have a few more big jobs that I'm waiting to hear back from. So far, rejection has been pretty difficult. I've been turned down from the Fairmont Resort (2x), the Old Course Hotel (2x), the University (4x), and haven't heard back from quite a few others. Sooooo, I'm still holding out for a few jobs that I would love before we start to panic. We've still got time, so I'm trying not to worry about it.<br />
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Gotta make this quick since church is in less than an hour, but I wanted to give yall a video tour of our new place! Hope you enjoy!<br />
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CarmCarmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-53521440623419828242013-09-26T02:11:00.004-07:002013-09-26T02:11:42.147-07:00It's back<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke up this morning with that familiar twinge of pain in my
eye. I knew what was going on before I even looked in the mirror.</div>
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My uveitis decided to flare up today. </div>
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If you are reading this and have no clue what I’m talking
about, go back and read the posts from April and May. I promise, they’re very
interesting and hilarious. </div>
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It’s been 3 and a half months since that last flare up where
I called the eye doctor to make an appointment and then called back crying
because I couldn't afford another $100 appointment. What a long way I've come…
or so I thought..</div>
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I got some coffee and sat on the bed, having my own little
pity party. All those same questions crept back in. Why me? Why now? What’s
wrong with me that my eye won’t just heal already? Am I doing something wrong? I think these are all natural questions for us to ask, even
as Christians. For the last 6 months, I've been pondering a lot of things.</div>
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<b><i>Do I think God allows my suffering?</i></b> </div>
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I do. I also know that
God works everything out for his own glory, even if I totally screw everything
up, which I am prone to doing. In the beginning, I begged God to heal me. He
could have, but he didn’t. </div>
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<b><i>Do I think God caused my suffering?</i></b> </div>
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Well, he hasn't come out
and told me yet. He very well could have. This is an interesting question
though. The Bible is very clear about God controlling sickness. He yells at
Moses in Exodus 4:11 (I imagine it as yelling because of the way my mom always
read it to me) “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing
or blind (or uveitisy)?” In Deuteronomy, God also said “I kill and make alive;
I wound and I heal.” God could have chosen me to have weird blood problems and
a weird red eye. </div>
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<b><i>Do I think God is punishing me for something I did wrong? </i></b></div>
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“Punishing”
is a strong word. I think “discipline” is a good possibility though. I’m about
to get real with you guys. I can talk all day about being a Christian and God
working in me and here I raise mine Ebenezer. How is my sanctification? Pretty
lousy. When crazy things are possible, I tend to avoid God because he likes to take
me places that are uncomfortable. (i.e. Scotland, not having a job)… even
though he takes me there anyway, whether I pray about it or not. I know it
doesn't make sense. Everyone has their struggles. Mine are consistency and
giving up control of the crazy. </div>
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<b><i>So does this mean I think God gave me uveitis because I’m
not reading my Bible or praying enough?</i></b> </div>
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He could have. I’m not going to rule
that one out. It’s interesting that the girl with control issues has an
internal problem that she can’t control.</div>
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<b><i>So, how has God gotten glory from this?</i></b></div>
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Well, for starters, I still have my vision, even if it is
funky. When I think about the way things looked out of this eye in the
beginning, it’s a miracle that my eye didn't just fall out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, it has alerted me to possible blood issues that I
would have never known about had the uveitis symptoms not shown up. HLA-B27,
mixed connective tissue disease, Lupus. These things weren't even on my radar
at all before this. On the outside, I was completely healthy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, through the whole 4 months from the beginning of my
uveitis to the time when we left for Scotland, we were paying thousands of
dollars in doctor bills and prescriptions. On top of that, we had to pay for
visas, passports, the deposit on Clay’s degree, and some other pretty ridiculous emergency bills. And after it was all over, we had somehow accumulated enough money to live for a year without jobs. Whenever I think about how
expensive my eye has been, I can’t help but think how God provided for us above
and beyond our wildest expectations. And this always comes up in conversation. “Yeah,
Carmen had uveitis, and our health insurance paid for none of it, but somehow,
money came from everywhere…” It absolutely makes no logical sense how it happened
except that God has control of all of it. </div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">His strength is made perfect in my weakness. </span></i></div>
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So, today, I have uveitis again. And it’s ok. </div>
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Carm</div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-2748496472513291602013-09-17T06:04:00.001-07:002013-09-17T06:04:15.140-07:00The Primal LifeI wanted to take this opportunity to blog about something I haven't blogged about yet. It's about our adventures in the Primal Life.<br />
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Now, some of you may have heard about the Paleo diet, and the Primal diet is very similar. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll go back to the beginning.<br />
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Clay woke up on Ash Wednesday in 2011 feeling like God was calling him to fast from food completely until Easter. Long story short, he completed the fast, and lost a lot of weight in the process. It was at this point that he realized he needed to do something about his weight. On our first anniversary in 2011, Clay begged me and begged me for P90x until I caved. I don't know if you realize this, but P90x is expensiiiiiive. And since I control the money in our relationship, he had to ask permission. He purchased the videos, got some resistance bands, and set out on his P90x adventure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">day 1</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMiX1i9mvdNUN_GguQXfNOWq5Mykjiit8009jERm5cyVzHIm8chBSdhAc_ZP9Ol_ahZZnvouxs6ZLV1RI2rg_75aQakMvMcJREJjhG-0GWQtPa3wwSr5lMmXUULP0IQUD88teMpVd9lJ-/s1600/IMG_0372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMiX1i9mvdNUN_GguQXfNOWq5Mykjiit8009jERm5cyVzHIm8chBSdhAc_ZP9Ol_ahZZnvouxs6ZLV1RI2rg_75aQakMvMcJREJjhG-0GWQtPa3wwSr5lMmXUULP0IQUD88teMpVd9lJ-/s1600/IMG_0372.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">working out like beast.<br /></td></tr>
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He worked out like a champ and sweated all over the living room rug that John and Lauren gave us. He started Couch to 5K and finished it. He downloaded this Calorie Count app to track his eating and exercise. We completely changed our diet and eliminated most processed foods and drank only water. We opted for turkey bacon and whole wheat pasta and egg whites. We incorporated more veggies and fruit than I think he ever ate when he was a kid. He dramatically lost weight, like, to the point where people were telling him he needed to stop (in Louisiana, you're not allowed to be skinny). A year later, in 2012, we were running the Crescent City Classic 10K, he was getting all tan as a lifeguard on campus, and he had lost 100 pounds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFy47L3yyhy9JQSMEfnOXe7ylR7R1OrSfjJzpODMax73DGoTmgzaoz1yTqOy2BIc1yqaPKHjEHfXYLK6XAX5oOrt2ku4zqRKBZOsLj1dt30-Dgrbm2GACJEIBTx0TgxMNi_wGyYI8wUJH9/s1600/360+days+1-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFy47L3yyhy9JQSMEfnOXe7ylR7R1OrSfjJzpODMax73DGoTmgzaoz1yTqOy2BIc1yqaPKHjEHfXYLK6XAX5oOrt2ku4zqRKBZOsLj1dt30-Dgrbm2GACJEIBTx0TgxMNi_wGyYI8wUJH9/s1600/360+days+1-2.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one year later</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK89w4Kk_v4riWtHlJU1NsMv9whw_Ycqkxqb7pjD2_FzpeHQQFAVZ80sqselztpMaB248rikabnPJYhlH7HZRXpUrgC_UcAcAzai1uOKMn7c6M8H2rvqCP5ZtPO_sqSUwshDRzcD67PS3Q/s1600/ccc10k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK89w4Kk_v4riWtHlJU1NsMv9whw_Ycqkxqb7pjD2_FzpeHQQFAVZ80sqselztpMaB248rikabnPJYhlH7HZRXpUrgC_UcAcAzai1uOKMn7c6M8H2rvqCP5ZtPO_sqSUwshDRzcD67PS3Q/s1600/ccc10k.jpg" height="400" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crescent City Classic!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That was when we needed a transition. Calorie counting was becoming old and tedious. Clay stumbled upon Mark Sisson's book <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/#axzz2f9H5kjaq">The Primal Blueprint</a> and pulled some concepts out of it. Basically, it is a lifestyle based on the diet/exercise of our ancient ancestors. Eat plants and animals (it says insects too, but GROSS). Play. Move around a lot at a slow pace. Lift heavy things. Get lots of sleep. Use your mind. Avoid poisonous things (one of which is sugar). Get a little sunlight. Run occasionally. This is what our bodies were designed for.<br />
<br />
So we deleted the Calorie Count app. Clay quit running 30 miles a week. He still did P90x, but we started eating differently. The most drastic was absolutely no carbs, and not just the sugary things. No bread, no pasta, no flour, no oats, no grains, nothing. This was/is the hardest thing for me to deal with, which is why I'm still only about 50/50. But Clay plunged into it and guess what? He is maintaining a healthy weight without killing himself or denying himself. In fact, if you've seen his primal breakfast omelets, you'd think he was going to turn back into Fat Clay.<br />
<br />
But here's the fun part. We get to experiment with new things. At first meals were just chicken or pork, and two different kinds of veggies. Booooooring. Now, I bake cookies with almond flour and coconut flour. I made a chocolate/cookie dough cake for his birthday that was completely primal. We use honey, agave nectar, or pure maple syrup instead of sugar. We slice up zucchini and saute it into "pasta" (and it's much tastier, lemme tell ya). We stick cauliflower in the food processor and cook it over the stove with spices to make "rice." We ditched the chips and baked veggies until they were crispy. We make pie crusts out of honey, butter, and cashews. Fajitas come in lettuce wraps now (and OhMyGoodness are they sooooooo good). We've started buying spices and seasoning everything ourselves instead of seasoning packets or sauces that are packed with sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Dessert became dark chocolate, strawberries, and homemade whipped cream sweetened with honey. Our friends Matt and Elise got on board and started to lose weight as well.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIhkM3aZtpo6VxInEWL51SH0tiwpOAklJXAenjkh-KZUibVm_lko2gH-9uZxszQG9PQDJ_RytcJ9sp8xph_Yo_MZ7aR13OKL2DfOTXYVl4O-9h4k8xjOzcRnu3mp8zSBhJow76gXgs1dF/s1600/zucchini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIhkM3aZtpo6VxInEWL51SH0tiwpOAklJXAenjkh-KZUibVm_lko2gH-9uZxszQG9PQDJ_RytcJ9sp8xph_Yo_MZ7aR13OKL2DfOTXYVl4O-9h4k8xjOzcRnu3mp8zSBhJow76gXgs1dF/s1600/zucchini.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zucchini Pasta</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2kCOo9X_D2TG_gJsr34fok-TCvGn55_wpNkfaT2K7elt16ZoLTImR3A3v_dfus6QZ8eFtgE8Mp5MPcdcVxARatun3LRRewmI5QzBzeAp02xpkoL6ASdk7SLA6ispt3CevsyHcPQPWeXB/s1600/cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2kCOo9X_D2TG_gJsr34fok-TCvGn55_wpNkfaT2K7elt16ZoLTImR3A3v_dfus6QZ8eFtgE8Mp5MPcdcVxARatun3LRRewmI5QzBzeAp02xpkoL6ASdk7SLA6ispt3CevsyHcPQPWeXB/s1600/cake.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday Cake!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Do I miss carbs? Yeah. Do I still binge on ice cream and cookies and bread? OOOOOOH yeah. But the Primal Life is completely satisfying. We don't have to "give up" anything. And Clay is still Mr. Skinny.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpODDT7Vc-NCmSp-udRTnKIlcG5xgssrobkohOUiHntbcP1MwCEUX0W9ZgkxHEoGQsql5EImt4xOJSOKPkPke8TQx633SQO9Xm97LaHJ4_CknvcT5ByPqcNNh_tBgF8OFerst4dm8_XYv/s1600/anniversary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpODDT7Vc-NCmSp-udRTnKIlcG5xgssrobkohOUiHntbcP1MwCEUX0W9ZgkxHEoGQsql5EImt4xOJSOKPkPke8TQx633SQO9Xm97LaHJ4_CknvcT5ByPqcNNh_tBgF8OFerst4dm8_XYv/s1600/anniversary.jpg" height="339" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wedding and 3rd Anniversary</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfgVBwnjGa44FH_xoMcYiSEnU3gWel8p6wMHDYm6ekwgVwHMdMDs47WnWGXbNNkQTF0kdxIQwgErLXWbrTighCgmJdOtA-D8IZM-2XfB0iMwSxhyphenhyphen_wks2EZZGzkofU68exbI-GmOtCm6n/s1600/wedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfgVBwnjGa44FH_xoMcYiSEnU3gWel8p6wMHDYm6ekwgVwHMdMDs47WnWGXbNNkQTF0kdxIQwgErLXWbrTighCgmJdOtA-D8IZM-2XfB0iMwSxhyphenhyphen_wks2EZZGzkofU68exbI-GmOtCm6n/s1600/wedding.jpg" height="339" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2010 vs. 2013 - note that I'm in the same dress!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sooooooo. For those of you who had questions about what we were doing or why, there ya go. For those of you who have never seen Fat Clay, welcome to the World of Crazy. And for those of you who are struggling with your weight, who are exercising a lot but not seeing results, or are dieting and experiencing the rollercoaster of weight loss/gain, maybe this is something to check out.<br />
<br />
Until next time,<br />
Carm<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
PS. I could not be more proud of Clay!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMFqmBEQcrKW4RKFXgkMsHLL7jAN9aGqJa20A83OLmQ4uXEFK6X_6N7_nZUepR_t7pBK6l9Gc0Iyck1C67achyAsKd-7jXJDjvMWbQQVvnHzmsKlB1Ad47Ut2uO_U66-5CgGz_gcfWdgP/s1600/beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMFqmBEQcrKW4RKFXgkMsHLL7jAN9aGqJa20A83OLmQ4uXEFK6X_6N7_nZUepR_t7pBK6l9Gc0Iyck1C67achyAsKd-7jXJDjvMWbQQVvnHzmsKlB1Ad47Ut2uO_U66-5CgGz_gcfWdgP/s1600/beach.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6810780183141340546.post-55994831830240916042013-09-10T05:22:00.000-07:002013-09-10T05:22:20.067-07:00Scottish things.Well, I think even less has happened since I posted last.<br />
<br />
We are still staying with Alex. We have been in contact with the person renting our flat to us, and he has been keeping us updated on all of the setbacks with the renovations. Originally, we were supposed to be in the flat September 1. When we met with him and looked around the flat and decided we wanted to take it, he told us it would be more like the second week of September. Wellllll. Apparently, the water is not hooked up, and that is keeping the contractors from being able to release the property to the trust, allowing them to put in carpet and furniture and GIVE IT TO US. So, we were informed it would be more like October 1 before we can get it. I'm still praying for a contracting miracle and that we'll be able to move in earlier than that.<br />
<br />
The other miracle we need is a JOB for me! Unemployment is driving me insane. I am used to working 45-50 hours a week and being in constant motion. All we've really done is wander around and watch That 70's Show and the Vicar of Dibley. I have applied for 7 jobs now, all across different fields: restaurants, administrative, library, dorm cleaning staff. I'm going to start on hotels next. So far, I've been rejected for 2 and haven't heard back from any of the others. Let's hope someone out there is desperate for a girl who has a Christian Ed degree she doesn't want to use and lots of management and customer service experience!<br />
<br />
So, in an effort to keep y'all entertained, I have compiled some fun facts about the UK that I've noticed since I've been here.<br />
<br />
Someone somewhere told me that the water here had a different taste. I guess because of the filtration being different from the states. Some people have said that it tastes like soap. Some have said that it's really super sweet. PEOPLE. It's WATER. It tastes like water.<br />
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I also want to talk about the wonderful invention called roundabouts. Four cars coming into an intersection. Everybody goes left. You yield to the people already in the roundabout. You get off on whatever street you want. No pesky red lights to wait on. No turn lanes and yielding to the other side in order to turn left or right. You just ride around in circles. It's genius. But the COOL thing is... the redlights? They are for pedestrians! You know that button you push in the states? That cross/don't cross button that doesn't really do anything? It triggers a red light here, so the cars stop and you can cross! Yaaaaaaay!<br />
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Yesterday, I saw a rabbit on a leash the size of a cocker spaniel. I was going to get a picture, but I was just too stunned to make it happen. If I happen to see the rabbit again, I will get a picture for sure.<br />
<br />
Lastly, I want to tell you about something very serious... Breakfast cereal. They have the same brands of stuff here, but a lot of them have different names. I literally stood in the cereal aisle of Morrison's for 10 minutes looking at all the different cereals and being very confused.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWHAjPNlroiE4KmyGZ0SOsOT28FW-6Ld4KAzanXdqZv8m6YIxZO_nfVgnTWfrLZGL2uB_UlVhhSxENaD9AhACRtIN0asE9hCglb3NiUAjVTHYxIQCHhKZn7XRgJ_NIYUC_LY-Cc9AVaGy/s1600/cheerios+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWHAjPNlroiE4KmyGZ0SOsOT28FW-6Ld4KAzanXdqZv8m6YIxZO_nfVgnTWfrLZGL2uB_UlVhhSxENaD9AhACRtIN0asE9hCglb3NiUAjVTHYxIQCHhKZn7XRgJ_NIYUC_LY-Cc9AVaGy/s1600/cheerios+1.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same concept, different taste (probably the lack of corn syrup!)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWknl_3lBQ-cB1JFJBn6HLfi-tjXZBbFVQEHYjMyXZrijIYPxeC1ZFT_9kCH3FXg0QwhsXZUUDYnP00r65GJdVYMs9eqZogdiycFTe2gKWXAgCK0Y-smV6KZN8JiSVX8ZZ4q4xdzRlTQ7F/s1600/chex+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWknl_3lBQ-cB1JFJBn6HLfi-tjXZBbFVQEHYjMyXZrijIYPxeC1ZFT_9kCH3FXg0QwhsXZUUDYnP00r65GJdVYMs9eqZogdiycFTe2gKWXAgCK0Y-smV6KZN8JiSVX8ZZ4q4xdzRlTQ7F/s1600/chex+1.jpg" height="202" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">say whaaaaaaaat?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-DTaG8pbeCRNfZ2G6tfa4sSa2iY_0tscC5nJf-q73qwlLdhbZicvTVUqqdSYZdEzFh6smrCUo9cDoHvtTo5gEmRLTIehdQ-4qTUzOMe9PFu53Ucsf84C8H74cvWpDHJTueSvEnf4_NfL/s1600/Cookie+Crisp+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-DTaG8pbeCRNfZ2G6tfa4sSa2iY_0tscC5nJf-q73qwlLdhbZicvTVUqqdSYZdEzFh6smrCUo9cDoHvtTo5gEmRLTIehdQ-4qTUzOMe9PFu53Ucsf84C8H74cvWpDHJTueSvEnf4_NfL/s1600/Cookie+Crisp+1.jpg" height="210" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">almost the same. the dog wears a sweater in the UK. seems appropriate. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzHEJhmAljaJKgcCkhoUaq3lxNziwjnGGE5vZKFKf2ydHjWBIevPhGVV9yR4jYfoAs9kTOF1JGpcqOMKOt12q0WmSeN36Z-OrojTqhEdnNk74x8ikW_TsLM3Y7RN0T-Ri0zPfyt2Hg_dK/s1600/frosties+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzHEJhmAljaJKgcCkhoUaq3lxNziwjnGGE5vZKFKf2ydHjWBIevPhGVV9yR4jYfoAs9kTOF1JGpcqOMKOt12q0WmSeN36Z-OrojTqhEdnNk74x8ikW_TsLM3Y7RN0T-Ri0zPfyt2Hg_dK/s1600/frosties+1.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i don't understand why they keep Tony the Tiger, but they change the name?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKCh3AZTsGmLh1AdUJqLIHsrA98wjuUxjR32TxGf5kpK6oUOIfpoiKnLDdgyfF1BrDzijRquossHJontmIDD8hsrw5L1llbuwVhHCjbUmv9-SPnCBPCQiDwjhk1Yx59-VbRKsuCRgmXoa/s1600/mini+max+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKCh3AZTsGmLh1AdUJqLIHsrA98wjuUxjR32TxGf5kpK6oUOIfpoiKnLDdgyfF1BrDzijRquossHJontmIDD8hsrw5L1llbuwVhHCjbUmv9-SPnCBPCQiDwjhk1Yx59-VbRKsuCRgmXoa/s1600/mini+max+1.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">same little talking shredded wheat mascots, but different name. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcRcJzFLQPRPb_IbMnMZB0nheJmoqg-JbDRZp4DjrZHl0dc2UHiNzcm5IjoVHkKTdBx2nwhLq5HJezNnNmBQLmH3A0AJT7V6Zr6yz1cyWmlQcqwac0Jkp7XH3arYSIVi8DbXGqVVpbWhd/s1600/rice+krispies+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcRcJzFLQPRPb_IbMnMZB0nheJmoqg-JbDRZp4DjrZHl0dc2UHiNzcm5IjoVHkKTdBx2nwhLq5HJezNnNmBQLmH3A0AJT7V6Zr6yz1cyWmlQcqwac0Jkp7XH3arYSIVi8DbXGqVVpbWhd/s1600/rice+krispies+1.png" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">slightly different little elves, but exactly the same. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div>
Hope this was good enough for now. Gotta go apply for more jobs!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Carm</div>
Carmenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06717216982139191890noreply@blogger.com0