We're all Scots together...

It was a busy week at work, which is why I've not had much chance to post. I was always told that there were peaks and troughs in terms of how busy the office is - so far it has been all peak and no trough! I need a trough soon - just so I can catch up with myself a bit!!

It was Jacqui's leaving do on Thursday, so we all went on the Old Town Ghost Tour and then onto Gadsby's Tavern for dinner. The tour was interesting - Alexandria was founded by a couple of Scots, and when one of them built his grand house he had a cat bricked up in the walls to ward off bad luck. Apparently this was an old Scottish tradition...but not one that I'd heard of! (I had to check the Internet later, and it's true!) Alexandria was also the first place that anyone ever referred to the leader of the US as "Mr President" - to George Washington who was on his way to New York for his inauguration. And several presidents spent many an hour supping in Gadsby's tavern...whichever President it was that made the butt-groove in the chair I sat on at dinner didn't do a great job of making it comfortable! It was a really nice night. But we're all going to miss Jacqui....

We had got Jacqui a lovely photographic print of the Jefferson memorial at sunset, and we also made her a T-shirt which we all signed. Tanner took a lot of ribbing as she had signed in prime position...right over the boobies!! Jacqui is modelling the T-shirt in the photo here.

L-R: Rudy, Rog, Ryan, Dawn, Tim, Jacqui, Rob, me, Tanner and Stephen

It was my birthday on Thursday too, so it was a bit of a double celebration. Thank you to everyone for the cards, messages and gifts. It made my birthday really special to hear from you all. Because otherwise it was heading down into the mire at a couple of points!! The BD meeting was a highlight - things need to change!! (Andy Toft - you should be proud of me!! I actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about to Paul!!). And I have become the office Agony Aunt... Rudy calls me Sister Mary Kerry (pronounced in American like Sister Mary Carey). There was a lot of counselling required this week - again Thursday was a highlight!!

We have been pretty tired when we get home from work, so we've had 4 straight days of staying in to eat!! This has not happened since we've been here (unless Stephen has been away, in which case I eat in). At least the new season TV has started, so we've had something to watch before we collapse into bed...All you "Strictly" fans would be in 7th heaven - the first week of the show it was on 3 nights on the trot for 1 1/2 hours each time! I think it's down to 2 nights a week now (I've taped it, but I've still to watch it), and there are two strong contenders - a Brazilian Indy Car driver and an actress - her name escapes me but she is a Cheetah Girl (or something!). Bruno and Len are judges on the show here, so I guess they must spend all their time flying backwards and forwards between London and LA...

We had our yukky brown sofas swapped out in the Den, for some much nicer cream ones. It meant I had to work from home (or telecommute as its called here) on Friday whilst I waited for the delivery guys to arrive. It was good to be able to get some work done without interruption in the morning, but by lunchtime all hell was breaking loose as HRG (our travel bookers) told me that the credit card was declining and they needed to issue e-tickets for someone traveling to Australia on Sunday....Arrghhh!! I got on the phone to the Hd of Procurement in the UK, and eventually managed to get it sorted out, but it took hours and about 10 phone calls....my stress levels were pretty high by the time I was done!

Stephen making the lovely new sofas look untidy!

We went out for possibly the worst dinner in the world on Friday. We were in desperate need of spicy food. I fancied Mexican, but we stumbled across the Old Town Indian restaurant first....They made pakora which were pretty good, but the rest of the meal was dire!! Stephen had a vindaloo which tasted of burnt chilli powder, and I had chicken tikka which came served on a metal tray which looked like prison issue. You know the kind of thing with little compartments for the different types of food...it tasted like prison issue food too! Then they charged us a totally ridiculous $8 for each bottle of Kingfisher. We won't be back!! So it's just as well that one of my birthday presents was a cook book - How to make curry like an Indian Restaurant (thank you Richard!). I'm currently making the secret curry base sauce...I will let you know how it all tastes later!

Actually, one midly amusing thing at dinner was the couple a couple of tables away (ie the only other couple). Obviously on a first date. Talking about his property, her property, his travels in Spain, the fact that it was Columbus Day, him giving a bit of history about Columbus...and her saying "So, did Columbus move here with his family?". Honestly.....!!!!

Saturday was a busy old day. We started out watching England beat the Aussies at rugby. Then we went for brunch with some guys from the office and some visitors over from the UK. After that we dashed off to buy a new ipod for me (long story - one for later!) and a blender (for the curry sauce), then we went to "Art on the Avenue" in Del Ray. There always seems to be something like this going on here, and these events are always really well attended. There were 10 blocks of stalls selling arts and crafts, plus about 4 stages of music, plus food stalls etc etc etc. We had a really great time wandering around for a couple of hours.

Art on the Avenue - one of the Bands

When we got back from that I was feeling a little inspired, so I did my Fall decoration of the front steps - with pumpkins and everything!! My neighbour has done the whole Halloween thing already, but I won't be carving my pumpkins for a couple of weeks... They are predicting a pumpkin shortage because of the drought, but there seems to be plenty - they are just smaller than the ones you see on TV!

My Fall Collection!

I've been bettered in the decor stakes...just wait til Xmas. You'll be able to see my front steps from space!!

Sunday was a lovely day. We got together with Morag, Simon and the girls and went to the Scottish Heritage Fair which was being held in one of the local parks. There were stands selling jewellery, Scottish memorabilia, pottery, artwork. You could trace your Clan (we were going to join Clan Douglas as they had the best picnic!) and there were some traditional Scottish foods on offer...Crab Cakes, Hot Dogs, BBQ and Plantain Chips!! I was looking forward to Haggis and Scotch Pies, but sadly it was not to be!!

There were Pipers....

...and rides in a buggy pulled by Clydesdale's

Morag and Lizzie

So cute!!

The battle enactment - Scottish Laird against English Squire. The Scots won by 3 falls and a submission...

We met Morag and Simon in the evening too and had a fantastic night! Drinks, Thai food and a really, really good laugh...

Today is Columbus Day holiday, so I got to have a much needed lie in. I slept till about 9am which is totally unheard of! I've been tired, so I guess I needed it! We did breakfast at Denny's...it would be a "Fat Boy" breakfast in the UK, but seemed to be the diet version here! Everyone in the place seemed to be having the Grand Slam breakfast - bacon, 3 eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast, pancakes and maple syrup. There was probably more - the plates were groaning with food. It made our eggs and bacon look totally scrawny!!