Amsterdam Part Deux

Our second trip to Amsterdam in the last six months was even better than the first. As well as being my first time there during the summer it was also my friends, Yasmin and Adam's, joint Hen and Stag do, or 'HAG do' as I like to call it.

The hotel was a huge improvement on the last one simply because there was room to move around without having to climb on the bed or wait til the other person passes. It could have done without the clogs or coos on the walls though!



We spent most of our time watching the world go by, giggling like schoolgirls, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice and wandering around the canals feeling jealous of anyone in a boat.

Saturday night was spent at Club 11, a bar/club/restaurant situated on the 11th floor of a dis-used postal building, which you have to enter by a lift complete with grafitti and ghetto blaster. I think it's the only club I've been to with windows (the only one I remember anyway) which meant we had great nights views across the city and an extremely early glimmer of sunrise towards the end of the night. Gorgeous.



Sunday was supposed to be sports day for the Hag do but the blistering heat combined with varying degrees of hangovers put paid to that. Instead we decided to laugh at Yas in her Hen gear and 'interesting' articles in the Candian Cosmo (apparently women are worse drivers than men because they are 'foolish' and 'apply make up'!!!) and just generally laze about... Can anyone spot a theme here?

All in all it was a relaxing weekend which is lucky because I have a presentation in front of the examination board on Monday for uni and need to have my wits about me.

Think I'm Turning Japanese...

After the untimely demise of my last car I needed a new one, fast. So it was off round the car showrooms on Saturday weighing up the pros and cons of different cars and I ended up with a shiny silver Honda Civic that has less miles per year than my old car, is a diesel (essential for the amount of miles I do), has a huge boot, spacious interior and 5 doors and is costing less than my old monthly payments.

All in all I was quite chuffed so decided to celebrate on Sunday evening by going to Ichiban - Japanese car = Japanese food, obviously. I'd been told it was the same deal as Wagamama but better and they weren't wrong. We shared a sushi platter and salmon teriyaki, each had a chilli chicken ramen and a couple of drinks all for less than £40 plus the sushi platter was £12 which you wouldn't necessarily have each time so it turns into a bargain night out. Plus Alasdair lost his chopstick virginity and it has to be said he did really well - everything in his mouth and nothing on his lap!

Anyway we're leaving Japan (and Scotland) and heading to The Netherlands this weekend. Forecast for Amsterdam is 20-22 degrees all weekend so I'll be spending today frantically de-fuzzing and fake-tanning the legs so I can wear an array of summer dresses and feel all sunny.

Lovely.

Crimbo Catch Up

Ok, ok, I've been very lax recently with my blog writing and I'm sorry. Lots of things have happened but that also means I've been very busy. Since my last post I've been to Amsterdam, finished (and passed) the first part of my Masters, Christmas shopped on my tightest budget ever and celebrated Alasdair's birthday in style.

Our four days in Amsterdam were great, strolling along the canals, drinking hot chocolate and stuffing ourselves with more dough, cheese and ham than we could handle. The only downside was our ridiculously tiny room. Seriously tiny.



The other minor downside was our incredibly loud French neighbours, every night at around 1am they'd start screaming and running around the room. Not ideal for a romantic getaway. Anyway, on the upside Christmas decorations don't get put up until 12th night in Amsterdam so we were able to actually get excited about the whole thing rather than having it forced upon us since mid-October.

After that I found out I'd passed the PG Cert part of my Masters so now have a few more letters to tag on at the end of my name! Also on the work front, Derrick Linton, one of the Time Based Art students on my course, very kindly came down to Glasgow to a freezing day in the Arches to take our pictures for the new website. I'm busy designing the website right now and it'll be online in the new year but you can have a wee preview of the images on my myspace page (the link is opposite).

There have also been a few good nights in and out in the past month and the Subby was having a Morgan's Spiced night on Friday which to be honest could have gone either way but we decided to chance it and go along for Alasdair's birthday (4 days before Christmas - nightmare!). Good decision. Everyone was being handed Elvis style gold aviators as they entered and Mischief-La-Bas were there doing a press routine and taking polaroids of everyone. The music was pretty good as well and Sarah, Jen and I went mental for 5 minutes while they played MIA (AMAZING!!).



Well it's now Christmas and we'll be having our usual family day tomorrow full of pressies, booze and possibly karaoke - Alasdair doesn't know what he's let himself in for! Have a great one, enjoy it and please remember it's the thought that counts... after all, I'm a student again!

xx