royal wedding

This was soo last week, ha - but just wanted to record it in our St. Andrews file. Our town took enormous pride in the whole affair and it was a big, celebratory day! It was a national holiday after all, no school or work! Although it was kinda strange hearing people declare this "the best day of my life!" (really??) it was definitely exciting to be a part of all the buzz. All the shops around town have had Will & Kate pictures, mugs, plates, dolls, cakes, books etc displayed in their storefronts - maybe a little friendly competition :) On Friday morning, the Fairmont Hotel hosted a huge breakfast for 1500 in the center of town at St. Salvator's Quad with giant screens to broadcast the wedding. And afterwards, it was kind of a big fair with activities and people selling food etc. I'm not exactly sure what all it entailed since I wasn't there but you can check out Emily's blog post here. A few days before, the Botanical Gardens had a little special tree planting - an apple tree for Kate, a pear tree for Will. Emily also posted on that here. (Thanks, Emily!)

My friend Kendall hosted a Royal Brunch at her house for us gals to all watch the wedding together and eat of course. It was really fun getting to watch with about 10 of us (especially since we don't have TV in our flat) and hear everyone's comments. We were all in agreement that Kate's dress was beautiful (although I didn't love it), that Princess Beatrice's hat was ridiculous, that Harry is definitely the life of the party, and that we (I) miss Princess Di. It was also kinda fun to have an idea of some of the details - such as Will's groom's cake being made with McVitie's biscuits (cookies) which have been a staple in our flat since we moved here (yum), and reading that bacon butties were served to guests late night at the reception - which is a super common snack with students here... just little things like that :)

Congrats to the happy couple!

easter garden party

we hosted a few friends for the easter holiday in our little garden behind our flat.

it was fun getting everything ready - really just a bunch of flowers, chocolate bars for place cards, some pretty napkins and a lot of desserts!

huge thanks to kevin for the yard work and lugging up the tables!

as is our favorite custom, we all contributed to the dinner

and it was delicious.

a very beautiful day.

no one could find plastic eggs (trust us, we tried) but jess came to the rescue and filled little bags with the goodies. we couldn't find easter baskets either so it was total improv all around.

just before bed, i remembered ivy's easter basket that i hid away in the closet. it was impossible to find regular baskets anywhere, so things had to get a little creative. it was tiny but i think she still loved it. favorite thing: the stickers! i knew it.

hope you all had a wonderful easter!

matthew 28:6

alice in wonderland

Last Sunday afternoon we strolled over to the St. Andrews Castle (15 minutes) for a production of Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland put on by the local youth theatre. The weather was sunny and perfect, there was a great turn-out and the cast was actually really talented. It was kind of an interactive thing where the audience moved to different locations around the castle for different scenes. Such a cool backdrop! I forgot to keep an eye on Ivy sometimes because I was so wrapped up in the play haha - thankfully Kevin was there :)

View from the Castle of the North Sea/St. Andrews Cathedral ruins in the far back

Ivy following the crowd to the next location - haha

There was an adorable red ice cream parlor by the entrance, wish I got a pic.

Very fun!

day trip!

We've had the best time (and the best weather!) this week with my parents here. The guys have played about 50 rounds of golf and are still going strong. So us girls have stuck together (just the way we like it). We had my girlfriends over for lunch, went to Ivy's playgroup, had a picnic at the park, and shopped around town. But I wanted Mom to see a little more of Scotland while she is here besides our tiny town, so we headed out west and explored some amazing sights and gorgeous scenery. We felt like we were on Honey I Shrunk the Kids among the huge castle and giant trees...

BLAIR CASTLE

a little more info here.

DUNKELD CATHEDRAL

a little more info here.

picnic