Sunday 6 November 2011

An Introduction...

So i've been meaning to start a blog for ages just so i cant rant/swoon/both at something and obviously voice my (somewhat) interesting opinions! Also due to the fact i've felt a bit fluey today i decided to seize the moment and what-not.

I am a Scottish lass born and raised and enjoy learning about Scottish heritage and also Gaelic whenever i get the chance. I always picture Scots heritage as being all whimsical and interesting, but sometimes it's a bit boring. However it's always something to amaze people with pointless facts! I've always been quite gutted the fact i don't have a Scottish surname like "MacGregor" or "MacMullen" or something like that. Mines is "Jack". How terribly boring! Apparently it's from the medieval name for "John" and was very common in the Middle Ages and was a slang word for "man". Therefore i am a man?? How...interesting...

The website where i found the definition has a picture from some victorian book of "Jack and the Beanstalk" - how original!


See? Oddness!

Anyhoo! Before i go off on a tangent about Jack and the Beanstalk, i'll remind myself not to!


I've slowly realized the past couple of days that Christmas is just over a month and a half away! It terrifies me to think that 2011 is nearly over. However, i am a fan of Christmas! I used to hate it until about 2/3 years ago and it hit me like a brick to the face. All of a sudden i was a Christmas convert. I love making decorations, baking lots of stodgy cakes and biscuits, hanging lights everywhere and and all the while listening to the glorious sounds of my Christmas CD. I enjoy the run up to Christmas more than anything, nothing to do with the suspense of unwrapping presents - to be honest i don't really care for the whole present debacle. I love going around the German Christmas market in Edinburgh and there's a chill in the air, or when it's snowing outside on Christmas Eve and everyone is drinking mulled wine at the small village pub and eating mince pies. Yes, yes i know it's all very twee and makes you kind of want to throw yourself off a bridge and impale yourself on a Christmas tree, however it's really only the time of year i enjoy. Christmas and Hogmanay. It's time for spending with your family and appreciating what you have and just generally getting a bit too merry and eating half the contents of the house (furniture et al). I've never been a fan of my birthday (who is? An annual reminder that you're getting older and are one step closer to wrinkles and grey hair) and seasons such like summer has never really appealed to me. There's always something comforting about winter, whether its being inside with a cup of tea, making some soup or going for a walk in the cold air wearing wellies and ten pairs of socks. Also i always think the light is always nicer for taking photographs. The photo below was taken while i was snowed in and was off work for about two weeks. Literally half of Scotland just failed at modern life! It was crazy!




This photograph was actually taken by me, using my iPhone (which i detest most of the time), however i love having a camera in my phone as you never know when you can take a fantastic photo! I'm a qualified photographer and although i don't work as one anymore (due to this whole recession thing), taking photographs is part of my day-to-day life.