Happy Anniversary to Us!

Ryan and I celebrated 2 years of wedded bliss on January 23rd. It's hard to believe that in two years, we got married, moved to Singapore and now to Scotland! Talk about a whirl wind but I wouldn't have it any other way. The last two years have been very exciting for Ryan and me with all the traveling we have been privileged to do but it has also been a very great learning experience for us. When you're thrown into a completely new environment with no friends or family, you learn to depend on each other in ways you never had to before. I am truly blessed to be on this journey with Ryan. I can't wait to see what this next chapter has in store for us.

I never get tired of remembering this day...

Love you, Ryan Tom!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have now entered my 30th year of life! My 29th birthday was on Saturday and my sweet hubby bought me what I've been wanting since we found out we were moving to Scotland...Hunter Wellies! As my friend Maryl would say, they'll be great when I'm skipping puddles while visiting castles! Hehe. The knit socks came separately but will be necessary to keep my feeties warm! I had a wonderful birthday and I am truly one blessed little girl! Thank you for everyone that made my day special. Bring it on 30...I'm not scared of you!

Not the greatest of pictures but you get the idea!

Blair Castle

Sunday afternoon we drove about 2 hours to Blair Castle. Our friends, Dave and Sydnie, invited us to tag along. Ryan had actually been here with our friends, Sean and Kelly, a few years ago when they were living here and he was traveling to Scotland for work. Sean is actually how Ryan met Dave and Sydnie; it's been great knowing someone to ask questions about Aberdeen to and it's always fun hanging out with fellow Texans.

We had a great day and saw lots of beautiful Scottish country side. It was weird sitting in a car for 2+ hours and getting somewhere. Singapore was so small, you pretty much had to fly to get anywhere off the island. We are looking forward to many road trips across Scotland!

The earliest known part of the castle dates back to 1269. There has been 3 main developmental periods-Medieval, Georgian, Victorian and most recently a Millennial Project. The website gives a little history about the castle, I'm better at taking pictures ;-)

The detail in the wood is amazing. Look at the ceiling!

Ryan was in heaven with all of those antlers!

"It's bloody cold here!"

We arrived to Aberdeen on Tuesday, January 17th to a beautiful sunrise and nippy temperatures.  One of my biggest concerns when I found out we were moving to Scotland (especially in the winter) was the lack of sunlight. Needless to say, I was relieved and felt very welcome when I saw this.

It has actually been pretty nice and sunny since we arrived however, the sun doesn't come up until after 8 and usually goes down by 5. We are getting closer to spring though so the days get longer by 5 minutes or so each day. Our really long days will start at the end of March. 13-15 hours of sunlight...yes, please!

After we arrived, we quickly showered and got ready as we were both anxious to see our new home. Side note: This is where the title of the blog was born. I was freezing when I got out of the shower and said "It's bloody cold here!" and Ryan laughed out loud. I guess the fact that I had quickly adapted to the British lingo tickled him. Anyway, we were both (especially me since I had only seen pictures) very anxious to see the house and start learning our way around our new city. Our landlords met us a the house and they have got to be the nicest people in Scotland. It will be great having such genuinely nice people just up the road in case we need anything.

Just a sneak peak...more to come later

The rest of the week was spent learning our way around and getting the house prepared for our things to arrive. We are very excited that we'll have a Costco just 5 minutes away, I think we've already been there 5 times! The pace and lifestyle in Scotland is going to be much different than Singapore but I think we are very keen on our new surroundings!