I discovered I like ruins!

Sunday Kenny picked us up and the Turners, Kenny and I drove out to the Forth Bridge. This amazing bridge was constructed a long time ago (sorry wasn't paying attention to what they told me) and was a man made wonder or something. I was more interested in the beach next to the bridge and the amazing anchor that was just sticking up out of the beach.

  

When we got back in the car, Kenny asked, "Is there anything particular you want to see. I thought for a moment and said "Do you have any ruins?" They all laughed, because apparently, Scotland is full of ruins. We drove out to St. Andrew to see the 8th Century Cathedral ruins and the adorable, quaint town where Prince William met and fell in love with Kate.

The following day I still had a yearning for more ruins, so Kenny and the Turners took me up to Linlithgow Palace Ruins. You can read the history if you click the link. This was amazing. You could walk all around inside and I climbed to the top turret and snapped pics across the Loch just outside.

After Linlithgow, we headed out towards Stirling to see the William Wallace monument and view his sword....pretty awesome.

Next, we were going to head over to the castle at Stirling, but when Lynn and I saw the Primark, we decided shopping was what we needed to do. We headed back to the Turners after stopping for dinner. By the way, Primark was amazing..cheaper than anything in the states, even with the exchange rate.

Saturday in Edinburgh...Castle, guards, and a party!

Day two was spent bumming around Edinburgh. I have to say I was pretty overwhelmed by 1. just being in Scotland, 2. the total beauty of the city. There is so much history there, pride in heritage, and I know my Scottish grandfather was smiling from Heaven that I was walking those cobblestone streets.


Here are some pics from Edinburgh:

The day we were there was the Queen's birthday, so they had a royal guard at Edinburgh Castle. We were there just in time to see the changing of the guard. By accident I made a guard smile. I mentioned I wanted to snap a photo of him and Kenny said "They look so stern," and I replied "I think they look cute!" The guard looked over at me and started grinning. I snapped his photo and said, "You aren't supposed to do that!

The Turners told me the story of Greyfrier's Bobby. A dog so loyal to his shepherd owner, that he spent years living in the graveyard at the grave of the poor shepherd. People would feed him and after the dog's passing, a monument was erected for him.

It was raining pretty hard, so we ducked into a pub. I snapped a photo of my Bombshell's jacket in the pub.

That night Keith and Lynn had a party. In typical Kim fashion, I forgot to take many photos. Keith took some but he lags at putting them up so I still have not seen them. I did get a picture of Marty who promotes Spider's Web, and Keith and Lynn's friends Sandra and Willy. Willy reminded me of my imaginary husband.

All of their friends were so nice and made me feel so welcome in Scotland. Sandra and I even got down to some Charlie Feathers.

You take the high road and I'll take the low road...

I'm back from my trip...pretty recovered from my jet lag, with tons of pics from my trip.


I arrived in Scotland on June 10, and had a bit of trouble getting into the country. I forgot my friend's address for customs, so I was detained, questioned quite a bit about how I know the Turners (how do you explain friendships through Rockabilly music and Viva Las Vegas?). Customs attempted to phone them, but they weren't at home since Lynn was at work and Keith was at the airport to pick me up. Keith didn't answer his mobile since it was a withheld number.


They finally decided I wasn't trying to enter illegally, and let me through "this time." I went to curbside pick up and found Keith's truck parked illegally, and just waited there for about 20 minutes figuring he would be back. Big hugs and we drove back through Edinburgh to his and Lynn's place. I'd been flying all night and was determined to stay up all day into the night to adjust my sleep schedule and it worked. That first day after a long afternoon visit with Keith and Lynn, we went to see our friend Kenny, who was playing sax at a pub that night.

The truck was parked illegally, so when some cops showed up, we thought they would want us to move, but they just wanted to talk to Keith about his truck. I had to snap a photo with the cops because they were so cute!

I discovered that it doesn't get dark until after 11 PM in June in Scotland.


On the way back to the Turner's place, we stopped and got some fried Mars Bars...mmmm....

That's it for my first day...I will write more about Edinburgh and Scotland later...I have to say that this trip was better than I had anticipated. My hosts were wonderful and all the people I met who I didn't know already were so nice. I am missing them all as I write this.

My new belt! Thanks Warpath Leather Goods!

Just want to show you all the new belt I will be sporting on vacation. Matt over at Warpath Leather Goods made this custom belt for me. I'm loving it!

What's been going on...and the "Rockabilly Prom"

I leave for my trip in 4 days. Still can't believe it...4 DAYS! I'm obviously very excited.

The one thing that is casting a bit of a shadow on my excitement is the recent development of a tumor in my oldest daughter's neck. Being a bit preoccupied with that has kind of zapped me from my blogging mojo. She has a history of benign tumors, the first appearing when she was 14. It was in the large part of her Parotid Gland (large saliva gland) and by the time it was removed, it was about the size of a lemon. It returned in the small chamber of the same gland when she was 21, and the remainder of the gland was removed. Both surgeries were 5-6 hours long, due to the delicacy of the facial nerve which divided the Parotid gland. Her doctor did not do a needle biopsy on this tumor due to the proximity to her artery. She had an MRI and all the doctor has communicated is that she will be scheduling surgery. I just hope it is scheduled for after my return. I don't want to cut my trip short, but I will if there is some rush on removing the tumor.

Here's a few photos from the last couple weeks...for entertainment purposes:

Visiting Dorian's chickens and Mason

Friday I attended the "Rockabilly Prom" hosted by the Haight Street Hop at Milk Bar in San Francisco. I wore my favorite dress by Whirlingturban. If you haven't heard of Whirlingturban, they are my absolutely favorite reproduction dress company. Katherine spent years working in costuming in Hollywood. After a vacation in Bali, she fell in love with the country and decided to open a dress studio, there. She has told me that Bali is a host to many artists who move their studios to the tropical paradise where it is affordable to operate. The cost of living is low, and the benefits of the climate inspire creativity. Please visit her website here: Whirlingturban. 

This dress was designed by myself. I chose the fabric and style. Also the details, like the encrusting along the top of the bodice. The dress has a matching fan which is beneficial if you start to sweat, like I do, from dancing. I have had all my dresses custom created to my measurements, but Katherine now has a boutique of ready made dresses. The shirring on the sides make the dresses very flexible to different measurements. 

 

More photos from the night:

It was a great night filled with friends and music. I worked up a good sweat dancing. My friends Aaron and Kristina were crowned prom King and Queen. You can see them having a dance in that last photo.

I don't know if I will have the chance or motivation to blog again before my trip, I wish everyone well until I return. I will have some heavy duty catching up to do with my reading, and I look forward to meeting Fiona at Straight Talking Mamma, and maybe the people over at Rocket Originals.