dream fulfilled.

So this past weekend I had heaps of fun… and did something I’ve always wanted to do,  it’s true. Turns out I was in Vegas (that wasn’t the fun bit, other than kickin’ it with Suhaila)… the fun bit is that U2 was in town. That’s right, U2. And the dream/running joke for years and years has been that I’d go see them live with Dad (and Mom, don’t worry, you’re not forgotten… kind of a package deal). Anyhow, below, you can see that has obviously happened, as Dad and I are discussing really important and intelligent things while we wait for the concert to start… The set is up… and boom, it begins.

No surprise, the show was incredible and U2 did not disappoint in the slightest. Their set was pretty amazing and every changing, as you can see just a few looks of the evening. Let’s not lie, a massive round screen that expands is on my list of impressive technology and engineering. And making a couple gigantic disco balls cool, not easy, but they pulled it off well. Also, I felt right at home (well, my Asian home), since they did a wee karaoke bit during one of their songs… haha, loved it.

All in all, brilliant. I’d go again.

long time, no see…

Yep, I am officially terrible at blogging… I think if I’m not living in a foreign country or traveling heaps, then there isn’t much to say… Promise I do have a life (which is why this blog doesn’t get updated frequently). The update on life is this: I’m working in the SLC, that’s all to say there, and I’m still considering Grad School options or thinking about moving to the UK, because why not…? So if you know any jobs on that little island, fill me in…

But, here’s a few photos since posts are much better with them, and mine tend not to happen without.

Turns out, I’ve got a great crew of friends, and we live all over the place, but manage to get together on occasion. This occasion happened to be right before Monica moved to the LDN… As ever crepes were essential, cotton candy was a treat, and the laughter was loud and couldn’t be stopped. And it’s official, we miss Mon already on this continent, we’re going to have to content ourselves by going over and visiting her…

Again, we know how to party. That’s right, we do party games and all… this one is called “Pick Maren’s Nose”, much more entertaining that “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”. She loved it and looks so pretty. This is a sure fire way to have a great birthday party, you ought to try it.

How can you not love that face? Turns out it’s been heaps of fun to have these Nic and the rest of the crew living close by again… They’re always good for a laugh, whether it be through quite witty answers in games, or Nak Ass, er, I mean Kansas… always fun.

And well, that’s it for now… hopefully I’ll get better at this posting business again…

suggestions…

Alright, despite the nature of this post, there are no pictures. I’m looking for information here, and I’ll even fill you in on what…

Here’s the scoop: I’ve been thinking about getting a Master’s… who knew huh? I figured I was done school with my undergrad… but maybe not. Anyhow, I’m looking into a Master’s in Architecture (now, the architecture bit shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone who’s actually looked at my blog… there are plenty of photos of buldings and very few of people…). Right now, I’m looking into schools, programs, etc… so if you’ve got any suggestions, feedback, info, etc. I’d appreciate it. Thanks.

the last of the trip…

So, I’ve been a wee bit slow at blogging, but figured I ought to finish up my trip to Scotland. Nothing like posting things several months afterward, haha. So here’s quite a few more photos, but certainly not all of them… We went quite a few different places and it was heaps of fun to drive on the opposite side of the road and see the country… Anyhow, here you go.

Below are some photos of Inveraray the town and the Castle. Inveraray is on the shore of Loch Fyne, it was a quaint little town, with great fish and chips. Just on the outskirts was Inverary Castle which was gorgeous inside and out… though I didn’t get any pictures of the inside. There used to be a moat, pity it wasn’t full anymore, haha.

Next up was Blair Castle, which we stopped at on our drive up to the Highlands. This castle had heaps of land around it, it’s own little graveyard, and plenty of wildlife. Of course, there was a peacock just roaming around as well.

After Blair Castle, we made it to Inverness, just north of Loch Ness in the Highlands, which is where we spent the night at a little Bed & Breakfast. Despite the rain, we had fun there, wandering and taking in the charater of the town.

The next day we headed over to Cawdor Castle and managed to spend the only sunny bit of the day wandering through the castle, gardens and maze. This was a very picturesque castle due to it’s moat and drawbridge.

After that, we made out way to Fort George in the rain. Nothing like rain and wind whipping at you to make the military barracks more enjoyable.

After we headed down to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle… no spotting of Nessie though. It was a gorgeous drive and well worth it. Urquhart Castles was mainly ruins as it had been destroyed and rebuilt several times, but it was still incredible. Definitely one of my favourites.

Of course, the trip wouldn’t have been complete without visiting Edinburgh Castle. I would have loved to have seen it at night, but no luck on that one. It was pretty incredible place, though there were heaps of people there. I wish I had more pictures of the details that were all over the place, I think that’s what impressed me most…

And we have more of Edinburgh, walking down the Royal Mile, checking out the cathedrals and what not. Oh and of course, haggus, you can’t go to Scotland and not try it… and it really wasn’t that bad, haha. And this was fascinating, they had a shop where you could see how tartan was made… I know, I might be a nerd, but seeing that and how a tapestry was made were a few of the highlights for me.

Lastly, I’ll end with one of my favorite castles, Bothwell Castle. When we went there was hardly anyone there, which was nice to have free reign of the place. It was an incredible castle, again in ruins, but still gorgeous. I loved the colour of the stone and being able to look out towards the river from most anywhere in the castle (though the river was an unpleasant shade of brown).

And there you have it, Scotland, or at least a sampling of what I saw and did on my trip… where to go next…?

golf anyone?

As promised here’s some photos of St. Andrews… the birthplace of golf. I’m pretty sure that Dad needs to go there, and I should probably go on that trip as well, just to show him where it is, haha. Anyhow, here are some of the many images from the cathedral ruins… We got to climb to the top of a tower and look out over the town. Gorgeous… and fun to wind up heaps of skinny curved stairs.

I think my camera battery died before we made it to the castle, so unfortunately I don’t have many images of that… though it was incredible. When I get photos from my friends that went, I’ll try to toss them up. Anyhow, here’s one of my favorites from the trip, it’s a bit of the ruins at St. Andrew’s and incredibly, it was a gorgeous day, no rain (at least not then).

Here’s another day in the land of Scots… we took a little day trip to the town of Inverary, along the way we stopped at Loch Lomond and the little village of Luss. Again, gorgeous.. it was a quaint little town, with really nice people and there was a shop that sold Jam Jams (cookies that Grandma Saunders would make for us)… naturally, I had to get one… I was quite excited, though it might not show it in that picture. Along the way, we saw a little stone bridge and stopped to get a closer look. I ended up with very wet feet, but got some fun photos of it…

scotland… part deux.

Anyone that knows me, knows I take heaps of photos while on a trip and Scotland was no exception. So here’s another smattering of images of Scotland.

Come to find, the Glasgow Cathedral was incredible. The architecture was gorgeous, as was the area around it. And it just so happened that the day we were there a wedding was about to take place… so as we wandered and were awed, we got to be serenaded by bagpipes. Yep, I love Scotland.

Below is an image of a celtic cross… I love the design, with all the intricacies in the pattern and stonework… imagine how hard that would be to create, it’s amazing. Oh, and the image is a standard kind of shot for me… yep, I’m short, always looking up at things.

Behind the Cathedral was a huge graveyard on a hill, which you can see in the top left image. Though it might sound odd, I do love graveyards and the older, the better. So this one was a treat.

Next up, St. Andrews…

the land of scots… (the beginning)

Alright, here we go. I’m sure this will have to be a series of blog posts, as I don’t think I have the ability to sit still long enough to do it all in one shot. If you didn’t know, I went to Scotland at the beginning of May for about 2 weeks… and don’t feel bad if you didn’t know, it was kind of a spur of the moment trip. I couldn’t pass up a good deal on flights and friends that were already going to a see a mutual friend that lives there.

All in all, it was a great trip. So as ever, I’m much better at pictures than words… though I’m pretty sure the whole time I was gone, I was wishing I had a better camera… that’s on my list of things to get, but oh well, here’s what I’ve got.

After flying all day/night or both… we dropped our gear off and headed to Stirling Castle (forget that whole sleeping bit). So here are a few of the many photos… First off, Scotland is gorgeous. Due to the large amounts of rain, also incredibly green, which I loved. So the views were phenomenal. Stirling Castle was the first of many, but it was beautiful. Great views, incredible old stonework, walls, halls and all the great stuff a castle should have.

After a night of sleep, we headed into Glasgow, which is an incredible city as well. Being the design nerd that I am, I had to check out some of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s work… of which the Glasgow School of Art was one. We ended up taking a tour, which made me want to go there for school, I’ll have to check into that… Anyhow. Here’s some of the exterior and details, as we weren’t allowed to take photos inside, pity.

And here are some more shots of out and about Glasgow… I could live there. I love old buildings and cities that have character.

Lastly for this post… here’s one of my favorites from in Glasgow. I know it’s strange, but I really love cemeteries, which is where this one was from. Anyhow, I’ll toss up more later… the Glasgow Cathedral, Edinburgh, and much more.

another texas trip

Turns out Texas has been a frequent destination of mine… Since Natalie and her family live there (and come to find I really like them) and then I bought a car down there on my first trip this year and had to go back and pick it up. So while there, despite being quite sick for the first day or two, we still had fun and hit up the Alamo and took a boat along the Riverwalk. Parker looked awesome as a wee Davey Crockett and Beth as a cowgirl.. nice.

We also hit up the San Antonio Zoo one day and it was gorgeous out. We had heaps of fun feeding the fish, the birds and ourselves, as well as playing in the water.

Lastly, Beth and I drove home in my new car… It was a 2-day drive, but we had a good snacks and great times, especially in Roswell, NM, haha.

Next up… Scotland.

wow. a new post.

So I finally got around to getting some images together, though they are from the past few months… oh well.

Natalie and her kids came up a couple weeks before Victoria’s wedding… it was cold, so were they. But we did have heaps of fun with them…

Crepes. Pretty much a Saunders tradition to have crepes on Sunday nights and a great tradition at that. Who doesn’t love a little Nutella… or sugar and lemons on a delightful crepe? As ever, good times, with Dad, the Crepe Master making the goods.

Turns out a lot of work goes into a wedding and Parker liked to be where the action was… or make up his own. So while working on dresses… he became a “minja” with the scraps. I was scared, he was one tough minja. Parker and Bentley helped out with the cake, though that might have been more sampling of batter… which is essential. And when the set up finally came along, running around the gym was a pretty important task and Parker was a pro.

So a few shots of the actual event we were all home for. Victoria and Adam got married, the entire family was together for the first time in 5 or 6 years… incredible. We had to have pictures to prove it (and even if we don’t look like we’re related, promise, we really are). The kids had fun, Bela and Dad were the best of friends, as I don’t think I saw him without her the entire reception. Merrick giggled and smirked the night away and Parker was quite the entertaining ring bearer.

Haha, this might have been one of the funniest moments of the weekend. Turns out we had a power outage about 2 am the night of the wedding… good thing it was after the fact (yes, we were still up… relaxing and playing before everyone scattered. So, candles and flashlights were found, along with all the battery-operated tea lights used at the wedding. The result was a séance look around the house, along with Thomas and Brad having new eyes… They looked much better without the flash. And yes, this once again confirms that we are a family of nerds.

And that is that for now. I’ll toss more photos up soon… They’ll be a smattering of Texas, as I’ve made a couple trips down to San Antonio in the past few months, and Scotland, which is where I’m headed in a few days… And yes, I think I am addicted to travel… expensive habit, but always a delight, haha.

Oops.

Come to find, it’s been a while since the last post… and when I’m not in a foreign country I don’t seem to use my camera much, hence no pictures, which would probably lead to no post. With that said, I will raid the SD cards of my family and find some gems to toss on here. But here’s what’s been going down:

• Chillin’ in Canada (quite literally chilling) with my family and working for my dad, which includes pestering my cousin from 8-4 daily
• A little Texas trip that resulted in a baby sealing (the purpose of the trip) and a vehicle purchase (about time I owned my own car I suppose)
• Continuing to chill in Canada with more family (who came up from Texas and chilled more than me)
• Little sister’s wedding which resulted in all the siblings being home at once for a whole 2 and 1/2 days… a miracle due to the large number of years since that’s actually happened

And here’s what’s coming up:

• A trip to UT for various reasons… kickin’ it with friends, more wedding stuff and job hunting (oh the joy)
• A trip to Texas to get that previously mentioned vehicle and drive it back to UT to fill it with all my stuff that’s been in storage during my Asian escapades
• Going where a job takes me… if you have any ideas on where that might be or potential employers, I’m open to all sorts of options.. fill me in. Drop a comment or 2, thanks.

And we’ll just leave it at that, while I work on stealing photos and tossing them up. Everything is better with a picture in my books.