Writing on a Friday night...

Hellooooo!! :)

It's Friday night. And I'm in bed. Feeling a bit tired. And there's nowhere else I would like to be right now than here. In bed. Adele on my headphones. Feeling good. However, I knew that if I'd be in the U.S. we would probably be having some movie night or girls night or something to debrief about the week... ah... alas, one day in DC ;)

I can't sing along to the music I'm listening to right now... Sucks! But I just got done doing some really hard vocal exercises. They're these classical ones that are really hard to get good at and they tire out the voice so now I'm a bit raspy and not uttering a word to rest. It really is like exercising any other muscle and allotting time for recovery. But I'm really grateful. I found a really good teacher. I have so much fun practicing and going in for lessons!!

Let's see.. a few cool things I'd like to share... I'll be spending about half of March out of town for events, conferences, and trips. There is a huge education conference in London, one of the biggest in the world, and they're sending me to present a poster! Look! My name is on there! I'm so excited! I'll be in London for 3 days. I'm gonna try to explore some and take lots of pics :D!!!!

Another thing is that I was invited to go on a peace & conflict study trip in Georgia with one of one of the members of my team. Don't get too excited, not Georgia the state that is close to you... lol.. But the country. !!!!!!!!! They're figuring out the details! But if it does happen it would be so awesome!! It would be for 3 days and we would learn about all sorts of things. Ahhh! Mike is a bit concerned for the safety there but I've assured him that they wouldn't send us somewhere that is significantly dangerous. I was so excited when I was invited and I wanted to tell you for a couple days, haha.

Today, Mike and I went for lunch at this really great place by work. We ordered mac and cheese and veg chimichanga. But I loved their twist on their food. It tastes different but really good. And it's not very expensive. Great place!

Lol.. the pic in the middle is of a ferris wheel in Glasgow when I went there for a work event.

This weekend we are going to the rock climbing arena and I'll be in London for the Peace One Day event with National Union of Students and Jude Law!!!!

You're right, good things are coming.

Miss you too.. lots... :)

xx

K

Great News!

Dear Kris,

That's a picture of a delicious Caramel Latte David made me! Seriously, we never need to eat out. Ever.

So sorry it took me this long to write. I guess I didn't have much to talk about. Until now...but I'll save that till the end. First up, I had told you that my mom started that interior decorator certificate course a couple of weeks ago. Her instructor told her to choose a place to decorate as her final project, and of course, she chose my apartment. She came up last weekend and decorated my living & dining room and my study area. I can't wait till she finishes my room and bathroom and everything else to show you!! :D It's finally going to look like a residence, not a dorm. Know what I mean?

I know we rarely wear makeup, but I bought this amazing eyeshadow set. I love it. You loved it when I was wearing a shade a while ago and I've been wanting to show you the whole palette. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's from Urban Decay and it's called "Naked Palette". It was a bit pricey, but I think it's worth it. Sooner or later, I'll try the smokey eye look, take a pic, and show it to you lol.

Anyway, before I tell you some huge, amazing, great news I have, I wanted to share with you a story I saw in the local news. I was trying to find the article, but I guess I'll just tell you. A judge in Orange County was giving the option of community service instead of just paying a fine. I'm not sure what the stats are, but those who chose to pay the fine instead of community service were repeat offenders. Isn't that amazing?! I love it. There were people criticizing her calling her a "social worker". WHO CARES?! If it works, shut up. I got so annoyed. People only complain. *SIGH* I admire that judge. She stood by her decisions. :)

Now... for the important news... around September or November of last year I was desperately searching for jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities. I eventually gave up since the Holidays were coming around lol laziness ensued. I don't remember most of the places I applied to. Today I received a letter from the Office of the Mayor of Orlando! I was accepted to the "2012 Mayor's City Academy". It's a ten week program that teaches you how the local government works. I am so so so excited!!! The first session will be on Thursday, March 8, at night. I will let you know when I get more info! :D!!!! All new knowledge that will be useful one day in DC.

Ahhhhh!! Good things are coming O_O I feel it!!

One last thing: i miss you! no coffee dates, no psycho gym dates, no candles.

See you -1.5 years :)

xo,

y

Current Events

If this were 15 years ago (about) this would be sent through the Royal Mail of the UK. Good thing it's not then, too much clutter would amount! :) Anyway. This was the second week at my job. I'm getting excited because events are coming up and that means planning, making databases, and helping out with anything needed. I was excited to see a name badge arrive this week. It's cute! And I got a work mobile. It has a better alarm tone than my phone lol. Let's see... what else...

I apologize for all the photos I've sent. None of them show you Edinburgh. It's been way too cold and we spend a lot of time in the warm indoors. I can't wait till it gets a bit warmer... And by that I mean into the high 40's and 50's. I miss Florida so much!!! But honestly, even though it's cold, and there are some inconveniences: I'm really happy and thankful. I believe everything happens for a reason and there's a reason why we are here. I'm thankful for the annoyances, because I know it will make me appreciate life back in the U.S. when we get back. And I'm thankful for the beauty and history that surrounds me. It really is a beautiful place.

So currently, I'm just trying to get into a good routine. I've set up a good schedule and now I gotta stick to it. Make sure everything is up to date and dont let things get too far behind. It's been a bit tough the past couple of weeks because I'm not used to it. But I'm trying to follow a good work schedule in order to have time the rest of the my weekdays to work on music, read, cook, work out, or go to events...but mostly, make sure I'm working on some music, paintings, and reading. If there's anything living here is teaching me: massive discipline. If you can be a go-getter type of person in this city, then you're pretty disciplined.

Look what I've cooked today! The first picture (above) is bread with goat cheese, tomato, and vinaigrette :D I had it at a restaurant with a friend and replicated, lol. A bit of a mess and half-fail, but tasted good! Then, (below) I cooked veggie samosas. This time I made them with self-raising flower and made them thicker. So they're a bit thicker, which I like. mmmm!! Then, I made carrot cake. It's so good. I put a donut glaze on it instead of cream cheese frosting since it's easier lol and tastes good and it's cheaper. In this one I put raisins and white chocolate chips. Gonna have a bite before I go to sleep. Ah..the reason I work out ;)

Other current events... I'm gonna meet up with a Edinburgh Univ student. She's a volunteer with Save the Children UK. They hosted a movie night to watch "Blood in the Mobile". A documentary about the conflict minerals from Democratic Republic of Congo. I'm talking to people from Enough Project's Raise HOPE for Congo campaign to get tips and advice on how to campaign with students here. So we're gonna be discussing things we can do since they expressed interest in taking some action. So that's exciting--let's see where it goes!

Speaking of Congo... so much focus on the American presidential election leaves no room for important things that are happening. Well, let's acknowledge President Obama's amazing speech at the National Prayer Breakfast!!!! I loved it!!! Btw, I'm gonna try to get involved with Democrats Abroad's chapter here in Scotland. My colleague is the director of the Scottish branch. He says I can help him out with doing voting campaigns once elections draw near. Woohoo!

But I did want to mention foreign affairs... Specifically, Congo. Since it's been on my mind a lot lately. It's just crazy what goes on and the world just looks the other way. I'm hearing about genocide in Syria and all this. I don't even know what's going on. But I gotta start getting more informed. Here's an article by JP on USA Today about the current situation in Congo and Sudan: Sudan and Congo are being savaged as world shrugs.

So that's life at the current moment.

Shanti Om,

>:)

K