MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Bring on the old 4-0 baby!

Juliana's Birthday

JULIANA MCELROY IS 7 YEARS OLD!!!!!!

Technical Difficulties

I'm afraid that I've been having some technical difficulties posting my pictures (the keyboard doesn't work on my home desktop computer and I'm just too lazy to sort it out.) I did manage to somehow make this collage and so perhaps this will give you just a little glimpse of what has been going on with me in the last 6 months.

Starting top left and going clockwise: on the road to Gairloch for camping, fall foliage, Sophie with her bug hat (we all looked like idiots but these saved our asses!), frozen everything (it was -4 C all day - brrrr!)

Stockholm and the Weather

Loved Stockholm. What a beautiful city. We arrived on a Friday night to a gloriously cold and wet city. The rather sombre weather made it seem a bit more haunting and mysterious, especially as the streets were often completely deserted. Stockholm in January would not appear to be high on the list of tourist destinations and this made it even better...no lines - thank god! We did a lot of walking and napping and the weekend whooshed past until alas, we were home again on Monday night. I'll be posting pictures this weekend.

The weather in the UK seems to be all that anyone is talking about these days. The UK has been saddled with oodles of snow, that is, unless you live in Stirling, Scotland. We had a fair bit of snow by Monday night (driving home from work was hideous) but the snow had melted away by morning - but only if you live in Stirling. It's been snowing a teeny bit the last couple of days and has been cold enough to keep the ground white and lovely. I can only hope that it will stay this way over the weekend so that I can finally enjoy a white winter weekend!

Still in mourning...

Thumper and Noble


Thumper sleeping with Kat and animals

Thumper

14 February 1996-20 January 2009

Green snake assassin
Doggy whisperer and companion
Pampered pooch
Love monger
Chaser of big dogs
Cat companion and pal
Best JRT to ever roam this earth
Was loved by many and brought joy to all (well, most anyway)

One of the world's finest...

The Leavitt-McElroy clan are heartbroken.

I go, we go, we all go for Aygo!

I've got a new, used car. She is the 2007 Toyota Aygo, a wee silver streak of panache and beauty. I've inherited her from David's mother, who sadly can't drive the tiny speedster any longer.

I think the diminutive stature of this snazzy vehicle officially makes me tres European.

We're Going Nordic

I have decided that this year is the year that we start exploring a bit. Adventures afar have been limited since my arrival in Scotland. After Dad got sick most of my holidays were spent travelling back to California - now that illness and death are looming no more, it's time for some sightseeing.



So we've already done a few days in Paris at New year and at the end of this week we are off to Stockholm for a long weekend. I never thought that I'd have an inclination to head north but we were able to get two round trip tickets for £70 - and so Stockholm here we come. At the moment, temperatures are hovering at just above freezing with numbers dipping into the minuses with windchill but I am hoping for some really cold weather. Will keep you posted!

David Callander Does Something Sweet

So David and I were talking the other day about what we were going to do over the weekend and David says, "I've got a surprise for you on Saturday morning so you need to make some time for that." "A surprise?" I ask amazingly befuddled (because he I thought he didn't do surprises) and then I badger him with questions...do I have to wear anything special? Are we getting a puppy? Do we have to drive far? How long will we be gone for? And I have badgered with questions everyday since he mentioned it. Poor fellow.

So I'm at home for lunch today and he says, "How about we go in to town and we can take care of the surprise. It should only take about 15 minutes." 15 minutes? That means getting a puppy is out of the question - bummer and I don't need to be camera ready. Anyway, we go in to town and I've no clue yet what he's up to until he walks in the door of the jewellery shop. Oh my... David has, with the help of Suzy Gillies, picked out and paid for my wedding band. Suzy and I had been to this jewellry shop around Christmas time and I pointed out the rings that I thought might go well with my engagement ring and she kindly relayed this information to my big softie. Turns out the ones that I picked out didn't quite work so well with my engagement ring but by tomorrow, when we go back to the store (alas, we had to leave because there were too many choices and I was on my lunch) I will have a wedding band...holy crap, I really am getting married.

Horrifyingly Lazy Blogger!

Wow...can't believe I haven't written anything in 6 months. I really didn't think anyone was following this anymore now that I've settled into my new home country and life has become a bit more ordinary. But alas, my sister complained that I haven't posted anything and so i will begin blogging again even if Terry McElroy is the only one that reads it!

I suppose I can condense the last six months as follows:

End of July: Took my first camping trip in Scotland with David and Sophie to Gariloch, a beautiful coastal town in Wester-Ross. The weather was incredible - hot and sunny, very 'unScottish' weather indeed and about the only week we got sun all last summer. Anyway, camping was lovely but Scottish camping isn't exactly like California camping. There were hoardes of people everywhere at the campsite and they tend to set up the biggest, most elaborate tents on the face of the planet and then surround their campsite in fencing so essentially their campsite takes up the same amount of space as a small home. Unbelievable. And then I learned about midges, which I've always heard of but never really encountered. A midge is a teeny tiny flying bug that comes out in the evening in swarms.

If you've ever had a horrible encounter with mosquitoes, then magnify that by 1000% and there you go. After our first night and our first encounter with the tiny biters, David wanted to flee back home but alas was convinced to stay. Alas, we remained at our campsite for a few rains and ran home once it started raining. I could not, however, return to work when we got back to Stirling since my face was so disfigured...42 bites...just on 2/3 of my forehead. Ouch!

August: I was really grumpy in August because we'd had virtually no sun all summer and it rained almost everyday.

September: Flew away to sunny and warm Portugal for a few days...and it rained.

October: The days really started getting colder and winter was surely on its way!

November: Spent Thanksgiving alone - sucks to me! Next year I'm taking Thanksgiving off and whooping it up with all the fixings.

December: The holidays were a bit nutty. Had the Evans clan up for 4 days and then ran away to Paris with Sophie. Loved Paris even though it was expensive (£14 for two hot chocolates, yes, that's about $20) and bitterly cold. Can't wait to go again! Ate way too much cheese and sauccisson but loved every minute of it.

Today: With the holidays over and June just around the corner, I'm constantly thinking about the wedding. Funnily enough, we haven't really done very much but have managed to get everything together and it seems to be falling in to place quite nicely. I freak out every now and again because I think that we haven't done enough but we've pretty much covered all our bases and with the first of the plane tickets being bought - Terry and the girls have booked their tickets - I'm getting quite excited.

I suppose that's enough catching up for now and will post pictures later!