so far in '08

If you haven't visited flickr lately, now's a good time to catch up on:

+ our most recent trip to Glasgow.

+ our night out with Rees and his buddies from Athlete.

+ sunny, rainy and foggy scenes from Aberdeen.

these boots were made for sloshing

Latest charity shop find: a pair of mint-condition, size 36 wellington boots. 95 pence.


And while I'm finally prepared for the rain, the sun persists in Aberdeen. Yesterday I took some time out to listen to the morning bells in St. Nicolas kirkyard.

daredevils

Sometimes I get emails from my parents and wonder, who ARE these people?! The older they get the crazier they become:

It all started when they packed up their comfortable suburban life and moved to Vancouver Island. THen suddenly they are the type of people who jump out of airplanes, and zip-line through tropical jungles.

Just today my mom sent this photo of them parasailing in Mexico last week. Guess it's true what they say: the closer you are to death, the less you fear it ;)
(love you guys!)

spring in my step

Lately the signs of spring have been poking their noses out from between this city's infamous granite tenements. The sun now gets up with me and later I walk home in dusk rather that night. The green tips of daffodils are pushing out of Aberdeen hillsides. The seagulls wake us up at weekends like they did eight months ago.

But spring in the UK is still as elusive as a North American groundhog (even if no one here knows what a groundhog is, let alone the lore surrounding it). One minute the sun is out, the next a fog thunders in. A 10-degree day usually finishes as a 0-degree evening. However, in both extremes, Aberdeen has been sort of pretty lately.

good with names

In my last edition of Good Things I refered you all to the stunning work of Julia Rothman.

Coincidentally her name popped up again today, during my Saturday morning dose of house porn (thank Jawcey - brilliant term!), in connection with the most fabulous wallpaper. I had already saved a photo of it to my inspiration file when I noticed the connection.

How fabulous is this kitchen wall featured at Apartment Therapy?

assimilation incomplete

The month of March will mark one (cumulative) year that I've lived in Aberdeen. So I'm inclined to think that all the necessary cultural adjustments have been made.

I know my way around: Not only do I know that Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Somerfield are all grocery stores, I can also stroll through their aisles and recognize product brands! I cook with turnips and make rocket salad. I snack on oat cakes and jaffa cakes (and know they are vastly different). And darnit, I know what a chip butty is!

But sometimes I forget that we Canadians, while discovering Brits have quirky eating habits, also bring some of our own eccentricities to the table (pun intended).

On Sunday afternoon I made a batch of (very British, I thought) potato & leek soup. You'd be hard pressed to find a box of Premium Plus on the shelves of the above mentioned supermarkets (or any sort of soda cracker for that matter), so Dean and I use various crackers as replacements. The soup wasn't too bad, frankly, and the crackers gave it some necessary bite.

A few hours later our friend Alastair came over (Alastair of stole-my-sister's-heart fame). I offered him some leftover soup, heated it up and served it with our latest cracker of choice.

Midway through his supper, Ally nearly dropped his spoon with shock. Gaping at me he asked, "Are you pregnant?"

I was cracking into my own after dinner snack: granny smith apple slices smothered in peanut butter. A perfectly normal treat in North America, but apparently a shocking pairing in Great Britain!

He overcame his astonishment and tried it, and liked it! All was well.

This morning I received a call from my twin sis, who had spoken with her lad the night before, during which conversation he not only recounted the apple incident, but also the soup incident. What soup incident you ask? Apparently crackers and soup is yet another ridiculous combination in the UK. Turns out, before I whipped out the apples and Skippy, Ally already thought I was a cullinary freak.

This from a nation that deep-fries pizza, eats Marmite for breakfast (or Marmite at all, really), doesn't refrigerate eggs at the supermarket, and serves cold pancakes as a dessert! sheesh!

professional development

Last week I made reference to a potential career development for yours truly. I’m pleased to announce that today I was formally extended the offer of Marketing and PR officer for Aberdeen College. It’s a full time gig, and the salary is too good to be true.

And to answer the question you’re all raring to type in my comment box: Not quitting Starbucks. Gonna try to stay on an evening per week and keep up my Bean Responsible activities. Feeling ambitious all of a sudden.

Here’s to interesting jobs and guilt-free shopping in New York!

valentine - spelled the same in French and English

My sweetie put together un soir fantastique yesterday.

Got home from a boring meeting that went on far too long, and found an unexpected bouquet, and plans for a French themed evening - complete with homemade crepes, vine (not homemade) and my very own copy of Paris, Je T'Aime.

The lad knows me well.

Yesterday was important for a couple other reasons too. One is that Oxford posted their most recent research position - one Dean's been asked to interview for. Two involves my own professional career, but I'll get back to you on it.

thrifting

On a student/writer/barista budget, it's no bad thing living on one of Aberdeen's best thrifting streets.

Charity shops are in abundance at this end of town, but none is better than the New Hope Charity Trust, conveniently a stone's throw from 220 King St. I've had some fun finds since the new year.

they're onto me

The Front Lawn was just Googled by Google.

I don't know why that simultaneously flatters and freaks me out.

our Manhattan bachelorette pod

nope, that ain't no typo.

Julie and I have officially booked our 'pod' in New York. Photos below.

Countdown is on to a visit with each of my best gals, in New York and Penn State. Time to book a flight!

gettin my design on

Feeling quite pleased with myself.

Today I designed a logo for Bean Responsible AND figured out how to set it up as my webpage header.

Smarter than I look!

good things: media edition

Lula Magazine - an exceptionally beautiful mag I would love to get my hands on. For now I'll content myself with admiring its pages online. If you love brilliant photography and illustration, Sofia Coppola-inspired lighting, and starlets like Zooey Deschanel and Kirsten Dunst, it's worth a peek.

Sewing books - Since the new year I've had little time for creativity and consequently a stronger-than-average desire to be creative. This book by Lotta Jansdotter is in storage back home in Canada, just waiting to be paired with a sewing machine, and this book by Amy Butler looks equally inspiring.

Kate Nash music vids - Our new gym membership means I spend a lot more time sweating, and watching music videos. Current loving: Foundations and Pumpkin Soup

Sea Spray Blue - I am a sucker for cheap chic indie art. These posters and cards border on too cutsie, but who doesn't love a little cutsie now and then?

Also - Phenomenal flash animation and web design. I stumbled upon this page and got lost in it. Checked the clock and found an hour had passed. The Etsy ads are adorable and the City Icon pages lovely.

And if you like that, you'll like what they did with artist Trish Granthams website, not to mention artist Julia Rothman's (of Also) illustration.

Gocco - How I remained ignorant to this Japanese gem for so long is beyond me, but with a little help from Leslie , I've seen the light. I've long been a fan of sceenprinted goodness (like these), and even took a two-day printing class, back in the day. But I had no idea how easy screen printing could be. I'm now mildly consumed with the idea of acquiring my own little Gocco.
In the meantime I am enjoying the gocco-ing of others, like the creator of Morris & Essex (see acorn above).

'twas the season

the very few photos we shot at Christmas have been flickred.

care challenge

I blame the garbage fumes.

Somewhere along the beach during Tuesday's cleanup I agreed to take part in the Starbucks Care Challenge this summer. A trip to South Wales sounded grand.

Then this morning I did some research. sheesh. I might be in over my head.

TWO hours of mountain biking? At the moment I can only last ten minutes on the training bike! Seems I've got some work to do!

Big Cleanup

Here's what I did today.

this weekend and last

There is lots to tell. Two consecutive stellar weekends have passed us by.

Let's do this chronologically.

Last weekend was a treat. My old friend Rees was up from Chichester, on tour with a wee band called Athlete. They came into town a night early for some chill time.

Rees is an incredibly talented musician and his genius is not going unnoticed. Not only is he one of Athlete's guitar techs, he's also just recorded a very fun EP under the moniker Camp America (which I've been listening to ever since he gave me a copy). The EP even features a track with Athlete frontman, Joel Pott. Listen to it here.

After some good catch-up and dinner chez-nous, Rees got us passes to see Canadian bands Stars and Apostle of Hustle at Moshulu. The bands were a disappointment (but then the beer-drenched carpet at Moshulu always puts a damper on gigs there... your feet stick to the floor, thus swaying is precarious) but we were joined by the band and crew who provided ample entertainment (see t-shirt below).





Show ended but the fun didn't. We brought the boys to our favourite haunt for some pints. Dean confessed to Joel that, while he purchased the last two Athlete albums, he downloaded the first one - and bought him a whiskey to compensate. Rees and I relived the glory days of our first meeting.




We made our way home, well past my bedtime, stopping at the Tasty Tattie (an Aberdeen institution of sorts) for chip butties.


Next day we recovered by taking a soothing jaunt to the Torry Battery - a WWI relic with a great view of Aberdeen - with Anne.





Athlete put on a brilliant show later that evening. We bid farewell to Rees and spent the next few days trying to undo the damage from too much fun (we are getting old).

Tomorrow: our more recent visitors and a jaunt to Glasgow.