Totally 80's

Four of my lovely lady friends turned 30 all within a month of each other so they decided what better way to celebrate than to have an 80's themed birthday party!!!

Jill and Ryan

Sporting the crimped hair!

Luke and Debbie

Tash and Pam

Debbie and Tash

The Birthday Girls!!! Debbie, Kristin, Pam and Jill 

80's chicks

Great Balls of Fire!!

For more photos.  Again thanks to Nary and Jane for the pictures.. where was my camera?!?!

Burns Night

There was a Scottish poet named Robert Burns and every year for his birthday, January 25, the Scots celebrate.  Celebrating Robert Burns is called Burns Night and it doesn't always occur on his actual date of birth.

Burns Night celebrations are typically the same no matter where you are celebrating or who you are celebrating with.  The past two years for Burns Night's I've been lucky enough to attend the Chevron Burns Night celebration with my many friends who work for Chevron.

A typical Burns Night is:

The start of the evening (guest gather and have a glass of bubbly)
Host's welcoming speech (the host says a few words welcoming everyone and declares the evening open)
The Selkirk Grace (a poem, the first of many read through out the night) and the first course (typically soup)
Piping of the haggis (everyone stands as the main course is brought in, which is of course a large dish of haggis, while a piper plays the bagpipes)
Address to a Haggis (reciting of Robert Burns Poem)
Supper (follows the poem with a toast of Scotch whisky to the haggis.  Traditional supper is: haggis served with neeps and tatties, neeps and what you say?  I.E.  mashed turnips and mashed potatoes)
Immortal memory (one of the guests gives a short speech remembering some aspect of Burns' life or poetry)
Appreciation (host will then say a few words thanking the previous speaker)
Toast to the Lassies (originally was a short speech given by a male guest to thank the women who prepared the meal, nowadays it is usually an amusing but not offensive speech filled with humor)
Reply to the Toast to the Lassies (or the "Toast to the Laddies", usually like the previous toast but with a female giving her views on men or a reply to the toast to the lassies)

The rest of the night is spent dancing ceilidh which is like Scottish line dancing for my American friends.

Pre-drinks

The boys in their kilts

The girls in their fancy dresses

Dude, is he wearing a skirt??

A little Scottish line dancing

Nary and I

Boys being boys in kilts

Diane, Phil and I

A big thanks goes out to Nary for taking the time to take pictures, I was having too much fun to even remember that I brought my camera.


For the rest of the album

A beautiful day for some geology

For the past 2.5 weeks it's been snowing and a winter wonderland and by winter wonderland I mean huge snow flakes and hail alternating and falling from the sky.  The city council doesn't clear the roads unless they are the major roads, so side streets are left to turn to mush during the day and then re-freeze at night and become super slick.  The sidewalks on the other hand become so packed down that you usually have ice that is 2-3 inches thick.  But this morning we woke up to a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and it looked like the snow might just melt away.

We had our chief geoscientist over from the Houston office this week and so we felt we needed to show him a little geology Scottish style.  We headed down south along the coast to Dunnottar Castle. After exploring the castle ruins and grounds we decided it was time to have lunch along the harbor in Stonehaven at The Marine Hotel.  The food there is excellent and dogs are even welcome in the pub!  Kady very much enjoyed laying in front of the fire while the rest of us ate our yummy lunches and enjoyed a pint.

After lunch we headed north of Stonehaven to the Highland Boundary Fault.  Here's a little geology lesson for you.  The Highland Boundary Fault is a major fault zone that traverses Scotland from the Arran and Helensburgh islands on the west coast to Stonehaven on the east coast.  It separates the physiographic and geological terrains known as the Highlands from the Lowlands.  To the north and west lie the hard Pre-Cambrian and Cambrian metamorphic rocks of the Dalradian group and to the south and east the softer sedimentary rocks of the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, principally the Old Red Sandstone.  The Highland Boundary Fault was active during the Caledonian mountain-building episode.  This episode refers to the plate tectonic collision that took place from the Mid Ordovician to the Mid Devonian (520 to 400 million years ago).  The Highland Boundary Fault allowed the Midland Valley to descend as a major rift (graben) by as much as 4000 m (12,123 ft).  This earlier vertical movement was later replaced by horizontal shear, i.e. strike slip. (Source)

Dunnottar Castle

Kady smiling to be out in the field

Near vertical rocks

A beautiful day to walk along the beach

The Highland Boundary Fault

Pointing out the unconformity

Vertical rocks of the Old Red Sandstone

Kady and I sitting on the Highland Boundary Fault

Hogmanay 2012

Hogmanay is what Scottish people call New Year's Eve.  Since this is probably my last one in Scotland I wanted to check another item off my bucket list.  The Fireball Festival in Stonehaven.  Stonehaven is located about 30 min south of Aberdeen on the eastern coast of Scotland.  There was a group of 9 that were all here for new year's eve and we decided to head south.  

The origin of the fireball festival (from their website: http://www.stonehavenfireballs.co.uk/about).

"Processions with flaming torches and kindling of fires on certain days of the year can be traced back to the Middle Ages all over Europe and, indeed, their origin must be sought in ancient times, long before the spread of Christianity. Proof of the existence of such customs in Europe is furnished by the attempts made by Christian synods as far back as the 8th century to put down what were called heathenish rites."

Sounds like a great time, right?  Well it was!

Freezing our arses off!

Kristal dancing to stay warm

Flinging some flame

To view the entire album

Tap O'Noth

After eating one too many christmas cookies, the few of us with dogs left in Aberdeen after Christmas decided to get out and stretch our legs and let the dogs burn some energy.  We piled into two Land Rover Defenders and headed about 1.5 hours northwest of Aberdeen to Tap O'Noth.  The online review of the walk said it was a hill but when we pulled up to the little parking lot at the base Laine exclaimed that it was not a hill but a mountain.  Needless to say we climbed it anyway.  It was a bit windy when we reached the top but the views were well worth it.

Bailey photo bombing the picture, but she is sure a sweetie!

Every hill/mountain top in Scotland has some sort
 of stone plack to tell you where you are 

Kady and I bracing the wind

Ryan and Angus

Ninja stealth time