My first win for best halloween costume!!

My friends Liz and Greg, also fellow Americans living in Aberdeen, hosted an awesome halloween party.  This is my favorite holiday!!!  Every year I try to one up my previous years halloween costume.  This year I decided to go as a peacock.  What should I go as next year?

Liz asked me if I could make my "famous" gluten free sugar cookies so Julia, Erin and I gathered before the Halloween party to decorate in a festive manner.

My last birthday in Scotland

One of the things I am most grateful for are my friends here in Aberdeen.  They have not only become my lifelong friends but they have become my family while I've been living abroad.  This year marked the start of my 34th year on this planet and it was brought in with a bang!!!

I arrived to work early that morning before my co-workers got there and found this:

Rachael was responsible for the over the top decorations, but I secretly loved feeling so special on my special day.  She not only overdid my desk but she then spoiled me with homemade peppermint truffles and chocolate covered strawberries and a beautiful pair of green amber earrings.

Then later that morning I got another surprise from my twin Julia.

Julia and I had decided that we wanted to have a girls lunch out to celebrate our birthday followed by an afternoon of what Scotts do best, drinking!  We had a smaller group of our friends who could make it to lunch but the ladies who could make it helped us feel so special.  We enjoyed Spanish tapas at La Tasca, which also has amazing gluten free pita bread.  Julia and I received bronze highland coo sculptures and a box of bath/beauty goodies.

Post stuffing our faces with tapas we headed to Soul Bar where we embraced our Scottish surroundings and proceeded to enjoy the company of our friends and some yummy cocktails!

Even google wished me a happy birthday!!!

I'm looking forward to what this year will bring!

My life in a rut...

I feel like I am in a rut, a holding pattern, waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the glass to become half full again.  The next two months are going to be hell.  Work is ramping up and project deadlines are quickly approaching and things just aren’t going smoothly.  I actually dread getting up in the morning and going to work.  I have lost all energy to go on my lunchtime runs and I feel that any energy should be spent working.  The bright side is that in 70 days, yes 70 days I am off to the southern hemisphere.  And I can’t wait!!!  In 70 days I am also all but done working in the UK too!  I return from my month long expedition to Antarctica to have 12 days left in the UK.  Those 12 days will go fast and will be filled with wrapping up any last minute things at work, packing the house (well overseeing the movers pack my house), getting Kady sorted for the move back to Houston and saying goodbye to all my wonderful friends in Aberdeen, who let’s face it have become my family!!!

I have loved and cherished my time living abroad but I’m so ready for my life to get back on track and to move forward towards my long list of life goals.