The Goose is Getting Fat

Now that we are past Thanksgiving, it is time to start preparing for Christmas. Nothing starts out the season like a good ol' classic.



This might not be a classic, but I love it all the same!

Thanksgiving Across the Pond

Thanksgiving across the pond was such a treat! Part of my family came over from D.C. We started the week off by going up to Scotland.

We had Thanksgiving supplied by Whole Foods. Yum! Thursday night we went and watched Phantom of the Opera. It was well done. I liked the musical Christine and Raul much more than the movie. Both were more feisty. Christine acted her age, and the last scene, when the Phantom takes her down to his lair, she fought back. It was better in those respects. During the day we toured the National Gallery. It had amazing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. But most of our time was spent in the Renaissance and that sort of religious artwork, and after seeing a billion madonnas with child, I wanted to shoot myself.

Friday morning, Katherine and Laura sat in line infront of the Ivanov theater to get tickets for Ivanov that night. They sat in line from 5:30 to 10:30, and they got two boxes, and two standing tickets. I stood, and it wasn't bad at all. Kenneth Branagh played Ivanov, and the rest of the cast was from impressive backgrounds: films, TV series that I've seen. It was a great experience and I am so happy that Katherine and Laura waited so long for those tickets!

Back to My Roots

Scotland is not necessarily my roots. However, I do have some family that comes through there, so that's close enough. Scotland is, however, the root of my first name.

My sisters Katherine, Ruth, Laura, Laura's husband Peter, my mom, and I took the 8:00 train from London to Edinburgh on Monday. As soon as we arrived in Edinburgh, we checked into our 5-star hotel. (It was an amazing Hotel with a great location and great, large rooms.) Four people slept in one room, and the couple slept in the other room. Katherine, my mom, and I slept in the bed- me in the middle. Ruth got a bed brought up. It wasn't even cramped with all of us in there.

24 Nov:
-Arrive in Edinburgh
-Lunch: I tried Haggis- wasn't as bad as I thought it would be
-Tour Edinburgh Castle
-Wander in and out of shops and down streets
-Dinner at Pizza Hut (not my first choice)
-Cinema to see Easy Virtue, but they weren't showing it, so we watched Quantum of Solace- my second time, but it made so much more sense!

25 Nov:
-Breakfast at McDonald's (I ate a breakfast sandwich from a nearby grocery store)
-Wait for Bus 15 outside, in the cold for over 40 minutes
-Bus from Edinburgh to Roslyn Chapel
-Tour Roslyn Chapel- where DaVinci Code ends, beautiful church, but improbable that all of DaVinci Code's claims are close to being accurate.
- Tour St. Gile's Cathedral
-Lunch at the Witchery- site where they burned witches
-Tour Scotland National Gallery
-Hotel- games
-Haunted Vault tour: I did not know that there was an undercity to Edinburgh, but it was. The tour had great information, but it was lame on terms of scary

26 Nov:
-Breakfast at a great cafe on the Royal Mile
-Walk down Royal Mile to Hollyrood House
-Tour Queen's Gallery
-Tour Hollyrood Palace: official Queen's residence in Scotland; apartments of Mary Queen of Scots
-Shopping along Royal Mile
-Tour Edinburgh Museum, and John Knox's house
-Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe
-Train from Edinburgh to London: trip over

I loved Scotland! It is an amazing place, and one day I will live there.

BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT!

Alright, I know a lot of gay friendly communities are boycotting things like Snowbird, and the Sundance Film Festival, but have they concidered the Twilight film release?!
The writer is Mormon! It'd make sense! Come on! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT!



I know I've already posted this, but I looked for a different parody trailer, and they were all lame. This is the best one.

The Thing I Miss the Most

In the later part of August, I gave up sugar. I should specify: anything with added sugar. That means, desserts, some types of chips, soda, and few types of juices. For my tea I used honey instead of sugar. Same for my oatmeal. I was so happy the first few weeks, but now.... Now, I just miss it. I only have to go until Christmas, but it's still really hard. The hardest part is that I cheated for my birthday. How could I stand not eating creme brulee or one of Angelina's desserts? Now that I've cheated, I keep on wanting to cheat. It's getting hard. I must be strong....

But dang, I miss sugar.

The Turn of the Century

The election of Barack Obama for president is the heading of a new chapter in America's history. His campaign stressed the need for change in our nation, and whether Americans like it or not, there is change in our nation.

I was impressed by his acceptance speech. His desire for unity and hope should be with all of us, no matter our political ideology. Seriously, read or watch the speech and apply each word he said into our society.

I am excited he's president. No lie. I rooted for him, and would have voted for him, if I got my absentee ballot, but I didn't, so I couldn't. Because the popular vote was so close, I could tell by seeing the results that there would be a rift in nation. We need to prevent that.

Let's all just be unified. The votes have been cast, no hating or screaming, or kicking is going to change that. We need to be willing to move on with the future and not get stuck in our past.

The hippie in me is yelling out, "LOVE, PEACE, and UNITY!"

Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

Anastasia knows her stuff, and Paris really did hold the key to my heart.
I loved my four day trip there. I got to see so much, and experience so much, not to mention brush up on my French!

29 Oct:
- 4:45 AM Eurostar train from London to Paris
-10:00 AM arrive in Paris (3 hour train ride with an hour time difference)
-walk from hotel on Rue Cler, literally a minute from the Eiffel Tower, to Notre Dame
-Tour Notre Dame, the Deportation Memorial, St. Julian the Poor Church, Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore, St. Severin Church
-Lunch at a Vegetarian place
-Sainte-Chapell, the Concergerie, where the revolution prisoners were kept, and where previous prisoners were tortured
- Dinner at a Middle Eastern place with really good lamb kabobs

30 Oct: (MY BIRTHDAY)
- Buy fruit at a corner market, and walk down to Eiffel Tower
- Walk up to Place de Victor Hugo and eat breakfast at a cafe there with excellent hot chocolate
- Tour Arc de Triomphe
- Walk down Champs-Elysee
- Tour Louvre
- Visit Opera House
- Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Paris
- Back to Hotel, because of rain, to play Up
- 7ish Go up Eiffel Tower
-Dinner at a really bad touristy cafe nearby

31 Oct:
- Breakfast at Angelina's by the Louvre, excellent food and the BEST hot chocolate I have EVER had
- Tour D'Orsay
- Walk to Place de Vosges
- Lunch at a Cafe nearby
- Tour Victor Hugo's House
- Tour Picasso Museum
- Head back to hotel to clean up for dinner
- Dinner boat cruise
- Up games

1 Nov:
- Crepes at a nearby French/Greek cafe
- Sacre-Couer Basillica
- Rodin Museum
- Visit outside of Napoleon's tomb (closed that day)
- Lunch on Champ Elysee at a cafe only with either very attractive or very built male waiters.. a little weird
- Tour L'Orangerie Museum
- Wait in line a Angelina's for a snack and more hot chocolate... there are long lines for that resteraunt, and deserveringly so.
- Head to station
- 8:45 Eurostar train from Gare du Nord, Paris to St. Pancras Station, London
* first class, so food, and drinks, and hot towels to clean face
* played Shanghi Rumi the whole trip

It really was an amazing trip, and I might've disliked the use of sidewalk at toilets, and the crazy driving, but I loved the city as a whole.

Still prefer London though.