YOU, get on my body

all clothes from Zara.com

This is all some of the items in my shopping basket..

sitting there..

yearning to be worn by me.

Minus two coats that I could only find in the actual store..

but oh, don't worry, they are burned into the depths of my brain..

note: i cant purchase pants that touch the ground or cant be worn with boots..

because I live in the UK..

and the ground is consistently wet..

and if it is not wet..

it will be at some point in the day.

I think I confused a few of you yesterday with my "staying in the UK" remark...

I forget 90% of my readers are American..

United Kingdom(UK)=Great Britain(GB)+Northern Ireland

UK/GB=British

UK=England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

hence..

there is no "British" Accent

England is IN Britain..

but is not Britain.

I am still moving to Scotland.

Because Scotland is in the UK.

And for those of you going..

"I'm an idiot"

I am right there with you
(calling you an idiot)..
Just kidding..
i am right there with you in BEING an idiot

Because before i moved to England..

I googled United Kingdom..

and I still got confused..

and then when I moved here i had to ask people FROM here..

now THAT is embarrassing.

I also did not know you couldn't drive to Ireland..

because it is surrounded by water.

My BF had a really good laugh at that one.

Did you also know the accents vary from place to place?

A southern English accent sounds different then a northern one?

and the Northern Irish Accent is TOTALLY different from the Southern Irish Accent?

It's like a whole different world out here people...

full of awe and wonder..

post script: Ive already been corrected by a friend of mine who is English. Britain is slightly different then the UK...see here..http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/britain/britain.htm

if you really care that much about UK terminology. 

Clearly living here for a year has taught me nothing.

Weekend view

It is Autumn in England now. After about oh..2 days of summer.

the closest ill get to mexican food..quesadilla with Tzatziki sauce..right...

A number of INCREDIBLY important things occurred this weekend

1. I finished my Masters dissertation.

2. I ate my weight in sugar

3. I slept until 2pm

4. I made chili and had it for dinner..twice..in the same night..

5. I went into Zara and coveted their Autumn collection then proceeded to pretend to buy everything by going online at home and putting all the things I wanted into my online basket.

Does anyone else do that? 

Just me?

I really  dont think $1400 worth of Zara clothes and a British puppy for Christmas is too much to ask for.

Did I mention I'm staying in the UK for another year or two?

no?

oops.

Lets be friends

Scotland

 

 

 

 

This is the post where I officially announce that I will be accepting

Sponsors/Partners/Bffs

The start date will be September 15th

why the 15th?

Because I finish grad school on the 5th

then am moving to...

SCOTLAND

on the 10th.

I'm also open (I mean..duh) for Product reviews..

for those of you dying to send me your stuff via international post.

It's really fun.

I swear...

As a graduate in a foreign country waiting on a visa to work..

I will have A LOT

of time on my hands to promote you, virtually hang out with you, pimp you out...

Click the contact tab at the top to talk shop..

or just gossip.

whatevs.

IKEA+ A Campus stroll.

if you have to ask what this is..then we cant be friends.

Library on Jubilee Campus (the universities more modern campus..clearly)

On sunday my Irish lover and I decided to go to IKEA

otherwise known as the mid twenty-40 something hot spot.

It gets pretty wild in there..

especially when you get to the kitchen section..

and don't even get me started on what goes down on those sofas.

My bum is sore from test driving all of those suckers.

My jumpsuit decided to make its second appearance.

But excuse the hemp bag..

When I first got to England I thought it was circa 1975 and my name was Rainbow Flower.

And now I cant seem to get rid of it.

I blame it on the fact that it can conceal a large sized bag of chips.

This may or may not blow your minds....

Family,

meet Stephen..

Stephen,

meet the family (aka my blog friends).

it was his brothers wedding i went to in Scotland...SUPRRIIISEEEEE

:::cue jaw drop:::

I know what you are all thinking

"whoa, girlfriend moves on quickly...."

 lets be honest here people,

I have to strike while the iron is hot

(I am the iron in this scenario)

my uterus isn't getting any younger..

and I need someone to take pictures of me for my blog.

all legit reasons to fall in love.

but being serious..

he has an Irish accent.

'nuff said.

Beach Day

that seems normal

as i like to say just "keepin it American" (just started that now)

As I was strolling through Nottingham the other day

looking for rioters and fire bombs (one of my hobbys)

I came across Southern California meets Hawaii meets England..

Right smack dab in the middle of City Centre.

Sandy beach....

amusement park rides...

lazy rivers...

tikki huts...

surrounded by old historical buildings.

twilight zone.

Too bad I wasn't wearing a bikini under my jump suit..

i like lounging in the middle of City Centres half nude.

I joke.

I like to keep my half nude lounging strictly to parks.

didn't see that coming did you?

 totally nailed that.

This should keep you busy

Yesterday I decided to spread my wings over the blogosphere

actually just all three of my guest posts happened to post on the same day..

whatever.

I heart these ladies

so check em out

and I'm there too..

to make you feel more at home.

you are welcome.

Nicole

Ami

Sophie

they are all pretty riveting performances by yours truly.

naturally.

in addition..

I had a lot of questions on where I got the shoes worn here:

they are from topshop.  You can order them online at topshop.com for you American folks that don't have access to a real life store.

But we arnt real live people anyway.

and i leave you with this...

the song that you sing and dance to at the end of a Scottish wedding..

surrounding the bride and groom..

which just so happens to be the song i sing and dance to when im alone in my room

surrounding my stuffed animals.

I can do that though and have it be normal.

Because i'm a princess.

please start at minute 1:44

Irish/Scottish Wedding

the church where the ceremony was held

rehearsal outfit..this chair was in my bedroom

duh

car/bus/thing that took the guests from the castle to the church

cocktail hour before dinner reception

yes, that would be a gun in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. 

Honestly guys,

this wedding was impeccable.

They had the entire castle grounds booked just for the wedding for whole weekend.

Free roam of a castle for three days.

I could basically just end this post now.

Except I need to mention again how there was a bagpipe band 

that made a grand entrance during the dance part of the reception

everyone was clapping their hands,

banging their feet.

I was the only American in a room full of Irish and Scottish folk.

best.time.of.my.american.life.

Here are the differences between a wedding in the states

and a wedding in the UK..

1. everyone attends the rehearsal dinner (all guests invited..not just those in the wedding party)

2. The Bridesmaids follow the bride down the aisle, they dont go before her.

3. The bridesmaids don't stand at the alter, they sit in the front row

4. the father of the bride hands over the bride about halfway through the ceremony instead or right away, so he stands up at the alter in the beginning.

5. The signing of the marriage license is part of the ceremony

6. people stand during the vows

7. the speeches are very important and given by the father of the bride, the father of the groom, the groom then the best man. Each person needs to make sure to address either the bridesmaids, the bride, the staff, the mothers, etc.

8. The Bride is not allowed to speak during the speeches. 

9. Gifts are presented to the mothers during the reception as part of the grooms speech

10. the head table consists of (in order from left to right) father of the groom, mother of the bride, best man, groom, bride, chief bridesmaid, father of the bride, mother of the groom.

11. women wear hats and fascinators. and in this instance, some men wore kilts.

12. there is no father daughter dance because the idea is that the father handed over the bride during the ceremony, and to have a dance would be like going backwards.

13. the grooms mother dances with the brides father, and the grooms father dances with the brides mother. It symbolizes the joining of the families.

14. there is a break in the reception (after a few hours of dancing) where more food is served and the wedding singer or brand takes a break. Then the party starts again.

My favorite part

(aside from the continuous free flowing booze)

the irish/scottish song and dance at the end.

where everyone surrounds the bride and groom and sings some irish or scottish (dumb american) song then does a dance.

Perfection.

Nothing but class.