I'm a Stalker

I never thought I would be one of "those" people who freaked out when they heard someone like Justin Beiber would be coming to town near you. Switch the name Justin Beiber with Colin Firth and I completely lost it.

MR DARCY  is going to be WHERE???? (internal freak out commence)

Colin Firth is one of my all time favs obviously because of above mentions Pride and Prejudice, but because of so many more amazing films... King's Speech, Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones, What a Girl Wants with Amanda Bynes (p.s. I want to be her best friend) but mostly Mr. Darcy.

Here is the story...



Trying to explain to my Husband why I had to go to St. Monans (a 20 min drive from St. Andrews) was a hysterical/frustrating conversation. Transcript below:

Me- COLIN FIRTH is going to be here filming a MOVIE! We HAVE to go seeee him!

Raymond- Um who?

Me-MR DARCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Raymond- (blank stare)

Me- Uggg King's speech guy!

Raymond- Oh, which guy in Kings speech?

Me- The one with the speech impediment!

Raymond-Oh ok. 

Me- We HAVE to go see him!

Raymond- Why?

Me- BECAUSE IT'S MR. DARCY!!!!!

Raymond- You know it's not actually Mr. Darcy right?

Me- YES he is!!! (not going to let him burst my Mr Darcy bubble)

PEOPLE- who wouldn't want to see Mr. Darcy in a Setting like this?

 

This is St. Monans Church

I then immediately knew he would not understand. So I turned to my fellow female admirers, namely Laura and Christy, and after a morning of Shopping in Dundee we were off to Stalk. 

And Stalk we did... I learned the following about stalkers, the people and the occupation.

1. Stalking is Hard

2. Stalking is not for people with ADD

3. In order to Stalk make sure you have all the details

4. Don't be afraid to ask the locals questions.

We walked around the town for a good 30 mins trying to be inconspicuous (I just totally spelled that word right without spell check, small victory) before we asked someone, Colin Firth's whereabouts!

We were pointed in the correct direction and let's be honest, we ran... awkwardly nervously Ran to find HIM. 

We found Colin (first name basis) in the old church's graveyard filming. I heard the director yell ACTION! I snuck past a (Staff only) sign and was generally being creepy and stalkerish.

Yes I saw Colin Firth. I knew I moved to Scotland for Adventure but I was not expecting this!

Side Note: The movie that was being filmed was called The Railway Man co-staring Nichole Kidman

Nichole Kidman and Keith Urban were both there as well (really didn't care about them).

I'm a Schmuck: First Blog of 2012

First post of 2012!

Yes, I totally understand your furiousness, It's MAY! 4 months have past without a blog post! What the HAY STACK??? Let me first give you my sincere apologies from the bottom of my heart. I do have a lot of lame excuse.

In January I was given a FULL TIME position as the Executive Officer of the Department of Sport and Exercise. Fancy title that means I'm the: Department Secretary, PA to Director, and deal with all Membership to the Sports Centre. (I didn't spell Centre wrong- British spelling)  I also kept my part time reception position

Excuse 1

This means that I was working A full time 8:45 to 5:00 job (usually more hours than that) and also a part time 5:30- 11:00pm job and working Saturdays. 14 hour days? Are you Crazy???  I only did 1-2 14 hour days in the week and worked Saturdays. Is that a good excuse for not writing a blog? (No? yeah you are right)

Excuse 2 

Attention Deficit Disorder - You all know I have a raging case of ADD and I got distracted with other things. (MB that is an even LAMER excuse than the first) You are right let me continue.

Excuse 3

The Executive Officer Job I was doing at the Sports Centre was only temporary. The women who did this job previously left on secondment to HR and was due back 5-6 weeks. This was pushed back further and I was ended up working in that position until the 30th of April.

God keeps surprising me with the way he is taking care of us. My job situation is a huge part of that. Sitting back and watching how he is moving in our lives is amazing.

Timeline-

I have officially applied for 15 jobs in St. Andrews, Scotland. I have had several interviews and have seemed to always come in 2nd place. To say I've been frustrated and questioning my own skills and God's plan for me here in Scotland would be totally true. I have blogged before about the way I got the receptionist job at the Sports Centre. GOD THING. Management then thought of me when they found out their Executive Officer was leaving for a stint. They knew I was applying elsewhere and knew that I was capable of doing a good job covering for Karen. I didn't apply, it was just given to me.

The days went by so fast. I had an amazing time getting to know the "upstairs" team so well. Laughing, joking, and practical jokes were a daily occurrence. It was a lot of work but rewarding beyond words.

During this time I also met and amazing girl that I've become close with the last few months. Get this y'all, her name is LAURA. How crazy is that? I still find it weird to call her and say "hey Laura, it's Mary Blake"

                        (for those of you who don't know, Laura is also the name of my twin sister)

She is the new Health and Fitness Manager at the Sports Centre and started the same day I started upstairs. She's my age and from Aberdeen, Scotland. We hit it off right away and have become fast friends! She's fun, crazy outgoing, and more fit than I could ever hope to be in a million years (totally green with jealousy)

YAY FOR NEW FRIENDS!

As my time at the Sports Centre was drawing to an end I started applying for more and more jobs. If you have been keeping up with my Facebook you will know that I got two interviews and two second place finishes. (that hit me hard) I didn't know what God was doing and how we were going to be able to support ourselves without burning through our savings, faster than the blink of an eye. (here is where I should have relied on God's plan more)

The Director of Sport, Stephen, came into my office two weeks before my job was to finish and  told me he found me another position that was opening up for temporary work.

I jumped at the offer! Went and talked with the Management in the Principles office and I am now the Personal Assistant to the Finance Director for the University of St Andrews. This job will most likely last until the middle of August. 

Guess what, the new job started the exact time I needed a new position. Guess what, this new job is smack in the middle of town and I get to have lunch with Raymond almost every day. Guess what, GOD is totally taking care of us.

There is so much more that I would like to fill you in on. This post is getting a bit long so I will save it for another time.

I Promise it won't be another 4 months before I write another blog post! Pinky Promise!

A Very Ancient Christmas

Hello All,

   I want to start out this blog a bit more serious that the usual goofiness. Christmas is my favorite holiday because of what it represents. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. I want to start out this blog by saying God is Great! The thought of his Grace brings me to my knees with tears streaming down my face.

Christmas in The Highlands



The Cast: Raymond & MB, Andrea & Garrick, Lindsay & Adam, and Adam's best friend Bob.

The Van  

On Christmas Eve we all crammed into a 7 seater minivan. Let me stress the word MINI! When I booked the car rental the women said the van was made for two adults and 5 children. Let me stress that NONE of us are child size. There was also NO trunk space. This means we all had to carry what we brought on our laps or around our feet. The two poor guys in the very back had things piled on top of them. They were good sports! 

The reason we didn't get a bigger van was because Raymond was not old enough. 30 was the age limit and Raymond is 29. Also the van we did get was a stick. Raymond was a CHAMP shifting with his left hand and navigating through the narrow Scottish roads. We had no shortages of Wind and Rain storms. 

Hiking



Can you spot us?



 He had some great adventurous hikes. We went exploring every day. The Highlands is an amazing place with so much ancient history. One of my favorite hikes was to a Pictish fort on top of a mountain. The hurricane force winds we had a few weeks back had torn down tons of trees blocking the beginning of the path. We climbed through these trees and a few scrapes and twigs in the eye later we made it through the trees to a clearing. We went straight up from there. The fort was amazing. It was so awesome to be in a fort that was so ancient, the view wasn't too shabby either.

There was no snow on the ground but the rivers were overflowing! One day we went into Inverness and walked around. We then went a little outside of the town and found this ancient burial grounds. They were dated to be around the time of King David. How amazing is that?

Just outside of Inverness is Loch Ness. Of course we went searching for NESSIE!!! Raymond, Adam and Bob went swimming in Loch Ness. It was so cold but they braved it. Bob even did in NAKED!!!! AHHH

The ladies were not so keen on getting ALL the way into loch Ness. So we kinda got it...



Our "Getting in pic"



On Loch Ness there is a castle called Urquhart Castle. It was amazing!

On our way home we stopped at an ancient Roman camp site near Perth. The wind and rain were fierce, stinging our faces but just picturing a Roman legion camping here on there way to try and defeat the "savages of the north" was inducing chill bumps.

Yes, I'm a history nerd.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning Raymond and I woke up late and breakfast was already cooked! What great friends we have! We all ate breakfast casserole and home made cinnamon rolls. (pretty sure I gained 10 lbs from this trip the food was so good) We all brought one gift and did a white elephant gift exchanged.

The gift I got stuck with is terrifying. It is a creepy clown figurine holding a small snow globe. Inside the snow globe was a monkey wearing a hat. Let me tell you, I'm really scared of clowns. I also got a cool foam airplane.

While my older brother was babysitting me he let us watch IT and I've never been the same. Clowns are never ok with me.

Christmas supper was great! We had ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and awesome bread. Bob cooked the Ham and it was really tasty!

Sardines & MORE

We played a lot of games while in our 4 bedroom rental house. The first night we played Sardines. Lindsay was the sardines queen. She found almost everyone first and it took us forever to find her when she hid. We had so much fun and laughed till our cheeks hurt.

The entire time we were there we played games. I'm glad we have found friends who like to play games like we do.

All in all we had a great time in the Scottish Highlands and I would love to go back and have more adventures. Who's with me?