There's Been A Murder...And It Be A Mystery

On Saturday my flatmates and I attended a murder mystery party our friend Danny had written. Since he didn't know us when he wrote it, we didn't get parts so we played as actors. I went as Dina Mite, Caoimh went as June Facepunch, Sophie went as Silver McStabsqwik, and Mags, who had a role, was Scarlet Monroe.

It was a lot of fun! It was great because everyone actually dressed up. Usually you get a lot of slackers but everyone put a lot of effort into their costumes which was awesome! We didn't stay too long after the mystery was solved (until about 12:30/1) because we were all really tired and we were meeting Sophie's aunt for lunch the next day.

Her aunt lives in the town of Penicuik which is about 10 miles outside of Edinburgh. We had a lovely three course meal of melon and cherries, a sausage casserole with rice, peppers, apricots, carrots, and mushrooms, and for dessert we had strawberry and blackberry crumble and strawberry trifle. It was all so yummy! It was wonderful to have a home cooked meal and it felt so homey in her house with its little gas fireplace (there was heat! it was so warm!). We then went on a walk around Penicuik House. I took some pictures with my phone for the first time. I'm really pleased with the quality but the colouring is a little off and I couldn't get it to zoom. I'll have to play around with it more.

Dianna's Weekly Dash of Different Diction

Welcome to this week's Dash of Different Diction. Sorry we're a bit late this week. It wasn't on my calendar to write it so I forgot! Today's word is take away. When you're in a restaurant here, instead of being asked "Here or to-go" you'll be asked "sit in or take away". So, essentially, take away is synonymous with to-go. There is also a difference in pricing between sit in and take away. Sitting in is always a bit more expensive even for something as simple as coffee from Starbucks. When you sit in there they usually give you a non-disposable cup.

Speaking of eating, tipping is different in the UK compared to the US. Stay tuned for next week. Instead of a word, we'll go over tipping!

Happy Birthday To Me!

On Friday, the 15th, I celebrated my 24th birthday. It wasn't anything too special. My flatmate, Sophie, made me cupcakes.

I opened my presents from my mom and dad, which I'd been holding on to for a few weeks and they consisted of the sequel to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber (VERY good series! Hopefully the second book will continue that way. No idea when I'll have time to read it since I still haven't gotten to Mockingjay, the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy), and the DVD Letters to Juliet. They also gave me some pounds to spend as I please. Isn't that nice?! I plan on buying some nice boots with it. My flatmates were really nice and got me cards as well. Caoimh got me a pretty necklace and Sophie got me a PostSecret book since I had been spying on hers.

I had a fairly laid back day. I didn't do anything different than usual (which means lying around watching tv and reading for school). We had people over to our flat and I wore my lovely birthday dress that I'd bought. Unfortunately, I had way too much wine to drink (probably over a bottle and a half in under 3 hours) and by the time we went out to Espionage to go dancing, I was done in. I left early, went home, and made good friends with my bed. This picture is me and my flatmate. I was struggling to be awake and alive at this point. I look wrecked (my mother kindly phrased it "toasted" when she saw them!) in almost every photo.

Saturday I was pretty much dead to the world with a hangover like no other and sat in my bed feeling sorry for myself, swearing off alcohol, and watching Project Runway. I managed to get up around 5pm, eat something, and walk to a bar where my friend Danny was having his belated birthday celebration.

In other news, fall has officially begun! Okay, the weather has been cold here for weeks and even colder lately and nearly all the leaves have changed and started falling but I bought canned pumpkin online and made my first batch of pumpkin goodies on Thursday. I make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with a cream cheese center. Yum, yum, yum they were so good!

Not up to much this week except more classes and readings! However I have begun to piece together my costume for a certain pirate party I am attending on Saturday. Will possibly be awesome. Arrrrrrrrrrr.

Dianna's Weekly Dash of Different Diction

Welcome to this week's Dash of Different Diction. Today's word is bagsy. This is just a cute little phrase equivalent to "dibs" in the US. If you want something and have to pick it before everyone else, you bagsy it. Example:

1. If you're having a potluck with your friends, and you'd want to bring dessert, you'd say "Bagsy pudding".

Dianna's Weekly Dash of Different Diction

Welcome to this week's Dash of Different Diction. Today's word is pudding. Now, I know you know what pudding here but they sometimes use it different here. Here is a really good description from Wikipedia.

"In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, pudding refers to rich, fairly homogeneous starch (or dairy) based desserts such as rice pudding and Christmas pudding, or, informally, any dessert. The word is also used for savoury dishes such as Yorkshire pudding, black pudding, and steak and kidney pudding.

In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding."


I decided to choose this as my word of the week in honour of all the dinner parties I've been going to! My flatmates and I have started a tradition. About three weeks ago we invited our new friends Mags, Danny, and Matt over for dinner. Then last weekend we went over to dinner at Mag's flat and this weekend we've been invited for dinner at Danny's. It's a nice Sunday dinner tradition! I hope we keep it up. But that's how my new word was learned. Sophie offered to bring cupcakes for pudding. The phrase threw me off completely when I first heard it! I said cupcakes FOR pudding? How does that happen? And then she kindly explained to me that pudding just meant dessert. Yum!

These are the cupcakes Sophie made! Don't they look delicious? (Trust me, they were!) They were almost too pretty to eat! The one on the right is chocolate with Baileys flavoured butter cream icing. YUM!

The Difficulties of Living Abroad

Living away from home can be difficult but usually you can go home if needed. You don't have that luxury when living abroad. I've been gone for a month already and so much is happening back home with my friends and family that it makes me sad. I (surprisingly) still haven't gotten very homesick yet but I have a feeling it could hit me soon. It seems like every day that another friend has made an announcement on Facebook that they're getting engaged/married/pregnant. My lifelong friend and neighbour Katie is getting married on 10-10-10. Her boyfriend is on leave from the army and they're taking advantage of it and she's moving to Hawaii. So who knows when I'll see her next!

In sadder news, I found out today that my Aunt Ann's husband, Roland, passed away the other day. He got ill when he, my aunt, and my cousin, Christine, were on a Caribbean cruise and died before the helicopter could reach the hospital. They don't know what happened yet. Roland did have heart problems but I'm not sure if it was related. It is just such a shock. He will be greatly missed! Roland had a great sense of humour and had just received his doctorate. I'm not sure how old he was exactly but I'm guessing somewhere in his late sixties.

Here is one of the last photos I have with Roland in it. This is from last years Thanksgiving so it's nearly a year old. Roland is standing in the back, the second from the left.

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