It's Official

Brent and I brought the winter weather across the Atlantic with us.

"December 2010 is "almost certain" to be the coldest since records began in 1910, according to the Met Office." Read more here... 

Happy Winter Everyone! *Brent and I are currently experiencing the shortest days of the year.. about 5 ish hours of daylight.

To keep on the snowy theme, here's some of my favorite snowy shots of a ski trip up to New Hampshire last winter.

This is the view from our backyard.. nice, eah?

Walking our dog Trudy down our muddy road.. she is easy to find in the snow.

and here's a little movie of us sking last winter.. can't wait to put the baby on skis!

Enjoy the winter weather everyone!

Christmas in London

We just returned from a wonderful trip to London. London is about 4 and a half hours from Glasgow via speed train. The trip is pretty awesome. You zip through mountains, farms - with loads of sheep and countryside. The trip down was slightly rough (as the baby did not particularly enjoy the ride) however, the trip back was smooth sailing. Although there was snow in London, all of it has melted by now which meant we could do some walking.  This was a welcome relief because I was practically stuck in the house with the ice and snow in Glasgow.
While in London we had a very full agenda. My good friend Rodolfo was in town from Valencia and my very good friends Claire and Elena just had babies last month so we did some baby visiting. We stayed with my good friend Clare who was ridiculously hospitable - she recently got her driving license and I did some GPS navigating as we went for a few drives throughout town. Brent and I visited a few art galleries, Christmas lights on Oxford Street, browsed Harrods and overall just had the absolute best time just hanging around the city.
Here are some highlights:
Brent enjoys a brew on Brick Lane (which for every time I visit, changes more and more!)

My friend Rodolfo and I who used to live in London and now lives in Spain.  Rodolfo is from Italy and my mom even met him when we did a trip to Italy 2 years ago.

Here's a little video of us on the bus.

The legalities of cleaning your sidewalk and driveway in the U.K.

The policy is.. there is NO policy.. and you are encouraged NOT to do it! I think this is a very old policy that has been in place when the UK would get minimal or no snow year to year. Times they are a-changing (earliest snowfall in 17 years this week and it is currently still snowing as I write this).. and so should the policy, if you ask me.
Click here for a VERY interesting article by the BBC. titled 'Is it your civic duty to clear snow?'.

SNOW!

This is exciting! Although we have no clue how to understand the weather reports for Scotland (as they report the weather for the whole country) - we heard rumblings that there was snow. I wasn't worried because the reports were for snow in the east of Scotland and northern England.  Earliest snowfall in 17 years.. more here. However, Friday night.. volia! Snow dumping down from the rooftops. 
We went for a walk to enjoy the snow yesterday and had a leisuriely pub lunch.

We then came across this character below (apologies for the technical difficulties as I realize I cannot edit this video clip) - it's still funny.

and.. we woke up Sunday morning to more snow! 
It is a strange culture here.  No one owns shovels, cars do not have snow tires (which puts the city at a standstill).. a lot of simple transportation delays (buses and trains).. everyone just sits in, relaxes and waits for the snow to stop.. kind of nice actually?

Can you see in the photo from our windowthat it is still snowing?

Book Party for a friend

Last week we attended a book party for our friend Diane, who wrote a book!
Her book is titled 'Sex, Drag and Male Roles' and describes her life journey as a performance artist.   The opening was at Aye, Aye Books which is the bookshop in the Centre for Contemporary Arts (in the Center of town about 20 minutes walk, 5 minute bus from our flat). 
Everyone had to wear a mustache to celebrate Diane's popular 'Drag King' workshops.
We had a fantastic time listening to Diane read from her book and do a bit of performance. We even brought along our friends Michelle and Ben (from Brent's program).

Learn more about Diane here Or if her book interests you, you can purchase it on amazon.com. I encourage it for anyone interested in feminism and performance art... besides that, Diane simply a wonderful person.

Something to warm you up...

Cold days in Scotland. Northern England and eastern Scotland (we live in the west) has been hit with snow. There has been a chill in the air over the past few days. We have been cozy at home nights while Brent has been busy at school during the days... I thought to warm up, I'll post some photos from Barcelona 2 weeks ago. Stay warm everyone!

 and.. ofcourse, the reason why I had my visit was beyond visiting the beach and seeing the sights.. I visited my best friend Kika, her boyfriend Tomas (both recently relocated from London) and even had an opportunity to get together with a very old friend from high school Michelle. Excellent quality friend time. 

Kika and me

Michelle and I on the beach 

Myself and Tomas enjoying a morning coffee on the beach

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

These are the people in your neighborhood.

Apologies everyone for not updating in a while.. Brent has been busy in his artist studio at school over the past week and as soon as we returned from Amsterdam, I jetted to Barcelona - photos to come very soon! In Barcelona, I joined my lovely friend Kika who was the maid of honor at our wedding in September.  Her place is on the beach and I had an amazingly relaxing time - beach walks, coffees outdoors, tasty food - Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and to be so lucky to have visited there twice within two years is just mind boggling. On a funny note, Brent and I bought our wedding bands in Barcelona and they have needed to be resized for quite a while, I brought our bands with me on this trip and got them resized at the designer's boutique. The designer thought it was very interesting for me to travel all the way from NYC to have a ring resized. :)

I visited with a very friendly and supportive midwife yesterday for my 28 week appointment. All is well in the baby department. I feel great and actually am quite happy with my growing size in the middle.  Still swimming 3x a week and feeling more movement every day.

This week it was our friend Diane's birthday so we all enjoyed a meal in Merchant City. Merchant City is a fantastic section of Glasgow with a variety of great restaurants.  This afternoon, I joined Michelle (the other preggie in my prior blog post) for a Play with a Pint at the Oran Mor - Oran Mor is a massive old church that has been transformed into a performance space, restaurant and bar.  The play was a very cute comedy and it was astonishingly crowded and popular for the middle of the afternoon.

On a final note, I have had many meetings with a variety of professional marketing/media people in Glasgow. People have been really SO welcoming. It is super refreshing! Fingers crossed it will lead to an opportunity in the future..

Weekend on its way.. looking forward to another Ikea trip! This time for a mattress pad to make sleeping more confy - as it is getting tough people!

Halloween 'Babymoon' in Amsterdam

Just returned from our long weekend ('Babymoon' - couples time before baby) in Amsterdam - only an hour and ten minute direct flight from Glasgow.
We had a wonderful time. Our bed and breakfast was adorable - a trendy area with shops, cafes and close to the museums. Only 4 rooms in the place and the innkeeper was so friendly and nice. We had a tasty breakfast in our room every day.  The weather was crisp and fall-like. It was peak leaves season and every canal was covered and showered with yellow leaves.

For touristy things... we visited the Rijks museum, Van Gogh Museum, went on a walking tour of the Red Light District and an evening canal cruise (which was lovely - we sat in the back of the boat outdoors - it also was a great way to look into the nice canal boats).

On our tour of the red light district, we discovered something very funny. TONS of swans swimming in the canal! -- I took a video of a few however, there were even more than that!

Overall a perfect relaxing weekend away...

Hi Mom!

Hi Mom,
As you requested, here is a photo of my growing belly. 25 weeks. Not that much further to go. Am I really that big? Yikes. Enjoy! :-)

Fall Weekend in Scotland and a visitor!

It has been so nice to walk through the park this week. The weather is crisp and 'fall-like'.

Highlight of this week.. a special visitor from London! 

My good friend Pablo came into town to see our new digs and experience Glasgow. 

We had a great day yesterday visiting St. George's Square, the Glasgow Cathedral, the Modern Art Museum, the Hunterian Gallery and dinner out at a local pub.  Today we took a tour of Brent's School - which is a popular tourist attraction!

Friday Checkup

I visited Southern General Birthing Hospital yesterday.
The campus is sprawling.. old buildings next to new buildings and a lot of current construction going on however... one of the new buildings is the Maternity building (below). Hurray!

I visited with a midwife who gave me LOADS of information on parenting classes, books on pregnancy, coupons, all sorts of goodies. I had some blood drawn, a scan (baby's face is now really developed - a real little person!), filled out paperwork and visited with a doctor.  Everyone was very friendly.
Although I am giving birth at Southern General (a 15 minute drive from our place), I can take parenting classes and have my next checkup at the Western Infirmary - which is located just on the other side of the park from us. 

My next checkup is in 4 weeks and I think the parenting classes (starting in January) will really give me a chance to meet some new mums like me (as this neighborhood is baby central in Glasgow.) That's about all for this week.  Brent and I saw the town last night.  If you haven't seen it.. HIGHLY recommended.  Not only is my good friend from high school's husband in a leading role (he's "the driver"), there is a scene with my actual high school in it (as well as the final scene takes place in the McDonalds parking lot where we would all hang out after school).

Very cool!
xo

Geeking Out in Scotland

Last night, I went to a dinner at the University of Glasgow sponsored by Girl Geeks Scotland. It was super! I thought of it as a great opportunity to meet other female entrepreneurs, tecchies and media geeks.  They have 1 meeting every month all over Scotland and luckily, last night was Glasgow. There were women speakers - American Venture Capitalists from California - currently living in Glasgow - as well as an owner of a Creative Agency based in Glasgow. Everyone was super friendly. Below is a photo from an Edinburgh meet up.

Shopping! and moving on..

We have been doing a little shopping this past week in baby prep.
First we visited Ikea to check out beds, matresses and other things they have to offer (a 15 minute bus from our place).  Did not buy anything yet but, still managed to spend 80 pounds. How did that happen? Damn you IKEA! (fist shaking whilst typing this)

Yesterday, I visited the Glasgow Pram Centre. They have upscale brands, middle of the range and everything inbetween. I went with my new friend Michelle from Montreal, who is due mid January and her partner is at Glasgow School of Art with Brent. Funny, right?!  We have spent quite a bit of time with them and have really enjoyed eachothers company discovering a new city together. The Pram Centre is located in a LARGE warehouse next to an auto garage.

Michelle finds one she likes. It is a good deal too!

The finalist! I'm a little 'over' the whole stroller shopping debate therefore, am ready to get one and move on. The babystyle Oyster referred to my via my friend Elena in London. It tested #1 on the UK consumer reports site which.co.uk and most importantly, it the most lightweight in the market (with a nice basket for shopping).
Not a bad looking stroller either.

I have my first midwife appointment this upcoming Friday. They are going to do a checkup, scan and give me a major amount of info of parenting classes.  At least I have the CPR covered. :-) ps: if you know anyone in Glasgow looking for a CPR class, let me know!

Girls Just Wanna Have....

I know I've kept the pregnancy posts to a minimum however, over the past few days I feel I've had a dancing baby in my tummy ALL DAY (and night) LONG.  I imagine her dancing around to 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' bopping and jumping around like Cyndi Lauper.  I forgot how absolutely fun this video is.. worth a watch (and some bopping and jumping) for everyone.

Happy Scotland Bank Holiday Weekend!

Here we are in Balloch yesterday.
A quick 40 minute train ride from our place.  You get off the train and volia!
We went on a boat cruise up Loch Lomand (FYI.. a Loch is a lake).  Loch Lomand is over 600 feet deep surrounded by mountains. Then we went for a hike around the Loch.  The northernmost point of Lock Lomand is also called the gateway to the Highlands.  We were prepared and packed lunch for the day so we stopped and rested when we needed to. So nice to have the countryside so close and accessible.  It was a beautiful day.

We've arrived! Week 3 in Glasgow.

We are on to week 3 in Glasgow however, I wanted to back track and show you some photos of our arrival including a trip to Edinburgh where we met up with my friends from London Claire and Mark.

Goodbye USA.

Hello Scotland!

A nice walk by our new apartment to discover our 'hood'.

Edinburgh Castle is quite a sight to see.

Look phone booths! You're lucky to find these now.

Beautiful clouds in Edinburgh.

We also visited the Museum of Scotland, viewed some 'Bagpipe Rock' and walked around until my feet said 'no'. 

Edinburgh is a 50 minute train ride from Glasgow and our new place is a 3 pound taxi to the train station therefore, no worries at all for another visit.  Glasgow is a great city full of life.  There is high end shopping, excellent transport and friendly people.  So far so good.

Welcome to our new apartment!

Here is our new apartment.  We've settled in very well. We have everything we need and LOVE all the space.

Office / Baby Room

Kitchen featuring... new stove, boiler and dishwasher. Woohoo!

Living Room with working fireplace and pull out sofa so come on over anytime!

Bathroom - behind the photo is a long hallway area featuring a sink
with loads of counterspace (good for washing a dirty baby). :-)

As you can see, we are located in the University of Glasgow district - and our backyard is a beautiful park.

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