|•••peachyhollow•••|

Just a quick note to say that we’re having a lovely time. The conference went well, and I made sure I made *full* use of all that was laid on (free food, free post-it notes, free coffee, free staplers,  free drinks, free internet, free pens, free evening entertainment) even though I was just tagging along for the ride, hehe - well, the registration fees were in the region of $1000 so DrMrNin was wanting to get his money’s worth!

Edinburgh was all very lovely, just like I remembered, and we spent a happy few days there. Eliza also became a bit of a local celebrity and now features on the cameras of lots of American and Australian tourists, thanks to a little photoshoot with the Guardsmen outside Edinburgh Castle, tee hee! I also managed to meet up with my Arctic friend (who is a native Scot and happened to be visiting home this week) and we had a lovely day out together in Lingithlow, running around a ruined 16th Century palace, and doing tea and cake.

We now find ourselves up in the Cairngorms National Parkwith plans for roadtrips into the mountains and some whisky distilleries along the way. Lots of pictures to show, but am logging on from one of those internet booth things, so I’m not able to get them uploaded, boo.

Until next time,
Lots of love…
Nin, DrMr and the girls.

He arrived…

And bought PRESENTS!

SQUEEE HEE HEEEE!!!

It amuses him how easy I am to please, hehe.

Turns out I was at the wrong terminal   
He texted me  when he was in the baggage hall so I had to quickly throw all of my bags (large bag containing assorted normal clothing, a couple of rather-flambouyant-but-will-have-to-do emergency conference wife outfits, and a collection of rather heavy travel guides, PLUS my computer bag, my camera bag, and a dolly hauler containing all the blythes, 2 moofs, 2 boyz and Joyce, my peteena, plus changes of dolly clothes) onto a rickety luggage cart and sprint through the underground tunnels to the other side of the aiport. PHWOOO. But I made it *just* in time.

And yes, all the girls came with me in the end. I just didn’t have the heart to pick

Highly successful, that was my yesterday- I gave myself the day off to focus entirely on my To Do list and by lunchtime I had already sorted out for my broken sewing machine to be repaired (negotiated a 40% discount too thanks to my protests at the quoted charge) and more importantly, had FOUND, TRIED ON AND PURCHASED TWO BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES for Malph and I to wear at our other sister’s wedding in September. The only catch is that they’re neither the colour (duckegg blue) or the style (greek goddess) that Jeeyet requested (claret red/ballgown) but if we’re buying them off the shelf then we’re really limited by what the shops have to offer. But they fit us perfectly and make us feel glamourous and we’re really excited to wear them so now were *HOPING* more than anything that Jeeyet will give us the thumbs up. Otherwise it’s back to square one and we’ve been anxiously looking since before Easter. (Incidentally the finding, trying on and buying of them all took place in just seven minutes flat. I’d only popped into the department store to use the loo on the way back to the carpark before my ticket ran into the next £4 worth of parking. This made me even more pleased with them.)

Among other things I also had to sort everything out for our little jaunt up to Scotland this weekend. DrMrNin is presenting at a conference so I’m tagging along for fun, and then we’re both going to have a little holiday afterwards. Just when I thought I had everything packed neatly into a little bag- assorted well-loved jeans, worn in t-shirts, flip flops and what-not, it dawned on me that I might be required to perform actual duties in my role as tag-along wife, sooooo I had to rapidly pull together some emergency outfits.

Here’s the thing. I love clothes. I hoard clothes and shoes like a I do Blythes, and I’ve been investing in the rag trade for far longer than I have beein into dolls. So you get the picture here. I have *stuff*, and a *lot* of it. But as with most of my things these days, thanks to all my to-ing and fro-ing across the Atlantic over the last couple of years, about 95% of all my clothes and shoes are sitting in boxes in the corner of DrMrNin’s apartment. When I flew back to England last July I had so much wedding-related paraphernalia to bring backwith me that clothingwise I really only brought what was on my back and an assortment of various honeymoon outfits. So since last summer I’ve effectively been living in the same two pairs of jeans and three t-shirts, alongside the spartan remains of what was still left to make it across the pond. All of these are now so well worn that they’re all a bit faded-looking and speckled with those little tiny holes that mysteriously appear in well-loved clothes.

So an outfit suitable for the likes of a conference wife? MUUUUUGH!!! It took me about an hour trying to assemble something,  45 minutes of which was spent trying to find something that was neither faded, nor holey, 10 minutes of which was rejecting everything that made me look like I was about to step foot onto a tropical beach. The end result is a little flambouyant, but given the circumstances it was the best I could come up with. It also amounted in my neat little luggage doubling in size in one fell swoop. So much for travelling lightly. And so much for an early night in preparation for the long drive after all that.

Right now I’m at the airport…DrMrNin is due to land soon but I can’t see his flight on the board, I wonder if there was a stopover I didn’t know about…??? Plan is for a quick coffee, then to hit the road, we have a seven hour car ride ahead this afternoon/evening/night. That’s if I can find out if/when/where he’s landing, that is!!