Some days, people are stupid and annoy me.

It's July! When did July get here?
This summer is going rather speedily. Idaho was great. I love my nephews and got to spend tons of time with them! Although I did decide that actually having to live in Idaho might drive me insane. I like feeling useful in the church. There's not a lot to do, either. Plus, it snowed. Not that I hate snow. I love snow. But I don't like snow in April. I froze.

Anyway, the return trip was alright. I sat next to an author for the flight. When she told me that, I silently screamed in terror,  but luckily, her book sounds rather good. She's LDS and single too. So we had some rather great conversation.
Alas, I flew Delta, on this old plane, which meant the screens were in the aisle, not on the back of the seat, so I had very poor choices film wise. I wasn't impressed.
Plus, I had a four hour layover in Paris. I got a little bored.

Even French people stare when they see you taking pictures of a stuffed sheep.

Added to this the fact that I didn't sleep at all on the flight back, well, I had a mini panic attack upon arriving back in Edinburgh. That landing was really, really rough.

It is one of my fav landings for the view.

The bus ride back didn't help either. You thought Rexburg roads were bad. Let me introduce you to Edinburgh buses on Edinburgh roads. Luckily, the panicky feeling went away in a few days.

The day after I returned, we had the book launch for The Kelpie's Pearls. And I ended up spending the whole day on campus helping. Luckily I checked my email that morning or I would have missed the press pictures. I was exhausted and almost fell asleep during the afternoon (one of my friends grabbed a pillow from the writer's lounge and I sat down, propped the pillow against a wall and tried to sleep) I'm sure someone's got pictures. A long day, but that was okay, because I got to see these:

Kelpies!

One of our sponsors was the Falkirk Wheel, which is part of the canal system in Scotland. These are models of the heads that will be built in Falkirk, going to be about 90 feet tall. It was great fun to see people's reactions. We moved them down to the entrance to Craighouse later and I loved seeing people walk out between these 9' horse heads that weren't there when they went in. Priceless. Plus, the statues are gorgeous.
Next was Ireland at the beginning of June. It was a horrible day (adding the fact that the day before I sliced open my left ring finger. Oh, that was fun). The day of my flight,  I was late, had to take a taxi to the airport, almost missed the flight, and had to spend £80 to print a boarding pass and check my luggage (as it was too big to be carry on). I love how the people at Ryanair looked at me as they told me the price. As if I could say no. Why, no, I won't pay £40 to check my bag, which has all my clothes and supplies in it! I'll just buy more in Ireland and carry it in a Tesco bag!
I ran from Security to the gate in my socks.
Then, upon arriving in Ireland, I went to board the bus and discovered that my ticket, which I had purchased a couple days before, would not work. So I had to buy another! I joked with my friend, B, that I would have to meet my future husband to make this worth it. Of course, that didn't happen. Yet, I made tons of new friends, met some very hot guys, danced and danced and then got to see a Medieval gate and Oliver Plunkett's shrunken head. I love Ireland. It was nice to be back. So it was worth it.

Plus, Ovis made a friend. Meet St. Laurence (named after the Medieval gate).

I'm the Stake Single Adult Rep for Edinburgh and that weekend inspired me to have a Single Adult Conference here. I don't even know if I'll be here to organize it, but, darn it, I'm going to do my best.
I'm applying for jobs, working on my dissertation, fulfilling my callings and going out with the sister missionaries, hoping something happens.

There are days, though, when I feel overwhelmed. Like today.
I found a bunch of books at the National Library of Scotland. I'd gone in last week to spend a couple hours and went back this week. You can't take the books out of the library, but they have a cafe downstairs and lovely skylights. It's rather quite nice.
Well, today, I wasn't in the best mood. I was running late. I have plans for the weekend, friends coming next week (mostly just to use my floor/couch) and lots of stuff to do for my dissertation. Well, I got Nazi lady today. I couldn't take my awesome book bag in. I had to take in one of their clear plastic ones. Never mind that the guy let me in last week with said bag. So two trips to the locker and downstairs later, I got in, silently fuming. The only reason I can think to have a clear bag is to prevent people from stealing books. Okay, well my handy little book bag... has a HOLE at the top. You can open it and look in. Gah.
Well, I got some work done. I also kept the clear plastic bag. Ha.

So that's you caught up on my life. This weekend is going to be awesome. I will post pictures.
I had a birthday trip to Lindisfarne in the planning stages, but my guests next week delayed that. However, I may escape Edinburgh in August. In August, Edinburgh is crazy.
How I love this awesome city!
Now, I have discovered this awesome show called Horrible Histories, which is based on a series of books that I was never able to get into, but I LOVE the show. Here is one reason why:

I suspect my deep love comes from the presence of something Medieval in EVERY episode! Plus, well, some of the actors are attractive. I mainly watch for the educational content. Honestly.
Happy Fourth to my friends in the US of A. Eat a hot dog for me. It's weird to think it will be a normal day here. In fact, I'll probably go to the library. Oh, the excitement.

Ta, luvs!