One of my more BUDGET FRIENDLY ideas

Ever since Josh and I moved into our flat here in Newcastle, I've been trying to think of cheap ways to decorate it.  I have never necessarily been the interior decorator type and anybody that knows me is aware of the fact that I don't mind spending loads of money on designer clothes, shoes, purses, etc. don't always buy discount.  :)  But considering that Josh and I will only be in Newcastle for a short 9 months (only about 1 1/2 left)  AND we have all our brand new Pottery Barn and Macys wedding gifts still in their original boxes packed away in sister Kristin's spare room (we got married 3 weeks prior to moving here), it's obviously not necessary to buy nice things for this place.  In Josh's opinion, we should buy NOTHING for it.  But as many of you know, that's just not my style.    My bridal shower was themed "Shopaholic"...Need I say more?

I think I've done a pretty fantastic job of making our completely beige flat look pretty great without spending too much money.  And plus, I get to take almost all of it to Grenada for year two.  Most of my rooms have at least some semblance of a color scheme going on.  Anyway, a few weeks ago, as I was having lunch with my good friend Julie, I noticed that the glass bottle that my pink lemonade was in was just so darn cute.  I decided to take it home with me and see if I could use it as a vase.  I bought some cheap fake flowers and over a month or so, I collected 5 of those cute little lemonade bottles and voila' ...a cute way to decorate my kitchen windowsill!

My Kitchen Windowsill

What do ya think??  Cute huh?!? 

In other Scurlock news, step-dad Scott and little brother Andrew will be here on Thursday from California for 10 days.  More visitors here in Newcastle! We can't wait!

SGU Gala 2011

This past Friday night was SGU's Spring Gala.  Last November, Josh and I attended our first Gala with SGU.  Unfortunately, I was on crutches after hurting my knee the week before, so I was very excited to attend Gala this term sans crutches.  Kris, Tarrah, Kevin, and Julie came over to our flat before Gala for a few pre-gala pictures and drinks.  Everyone looked fabulous and it felt a lot like prom night!

The six of us headed to Newcastle's city center to the Assembly Room where Gala was taking place.  The theme was "A Red Carpet Affair."  It looked beautiful and the course reps who set it up did a great job.

The night was spent eating good food, drinking wine, and dancing the night away.  We had such a great time with all of our good friends.  Being at Gala and enjoying each others company just reminds me of how lucky Josh and I are to have made lifelong friends with so many people here in Newcastle.  We are so thankful for the friends that we have made here and even though we don't have actual family here in the UK, it's okay, because we DO have a family here in Newcastle and we love them all very much.

Oh yeah, and my husband got ahold of Kris's camera and became a paparazzi for the evening.  He also said he would get me a nice camera.....I'll have to remind him so I can hold it to him. :)



Durham Cathedral

On Friday, Josh took the day off following his midterms so that we could do some exploring together.  It's not often that he can take a break from school and spend some quality time with me, so I cherish those days when we do actually get each others undivided attention.  We decided to go to Durham which is a small town about 15 minutes South of Newcastle by train.  Durham's big tourist attraction is Durham Cathedral.  The cathedral was built in 1093 and is considered one of the most beautiful examples of Norman architecture.  You can see the cathedral from almost every spot in the city.  Even from the train station, it just shoots out of the sky and utterly impossible to miss.

We walked up to the cathedral and if possible, it was even more stunning up close.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral...darn, but we did go up the 325 steps to the top of the cathedral tower.  It was gorgeous up there, but SUPER windy! I thought we might blow off the top of the church if we weren't careful.

View from the top

Nice and Windy...but the only picture of us on the top of the cathedral.

After a while, we headed back down the 325 steps.

Steep steps

After seeing the cathedral, we decided it was time for lunch.  We went to a very interestingly named pub for lunch.  These English people have such a sense of humor!

Josh and his fish and chips

We both enjoyed our lunch at the Fighting Cocks, and after we took a walk down the Wear River to get a better front view of Durham Cathedral.

Durham Cathedral actually reminds me a lot of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.  Josh and I visited there in 2008.  What do you think?  See a resemblance?

The walk along the River Wear provided such great shots of Durham Cathedral.  I took about 50 pictures of it.  I just couldn't get enough.

After a fun day in Durham, we headed back to the train station.  Along the way, we saw a really neat bridge that I had to take a picture of.

And, we found someone to take our picture up near the train station.

I encourage anyone that can to go to Durham Cathedral from Newcastle.  It's so close and it doesn't even cost anything to go inside the cathedral.  It's well worth the trip.  It's beautiful.  Josh and I had such a fun day together, enjoying Durham, and enjoying each other.

So Long, Farewell, Aufwiedersehn, Goodnight

The time had to come when all the siblings would leave Newcastle. And I know, I'm quite a bit behind as they left a week ago today.  But I had to finish up my blog posts about our adventures in the UK.  They went off to Dublin, Ireland after being in London while I took the train back to Newcastle by myself.   I would have loved to have gone to Dublin with them, but I had literally just been the weekend before they arrived and felt that it was unnecessary to go there again, my money could be better spent on new and different adventures. The sibs spent two nights in Dublin and arrived back in Newcastle on Thursday morning.

They had a couple of days to spend some time in Newcastle before they flew back to LA, so I took them to my most favorite place in Newcastle that I've blogged about quite a few times, Jesmond Dene.  We strolled through the park, near the river, and enjoyed yet another sunny day in Newcastle.  It was great.

Bert, Rach, and Anna at Jesmond Dene

At the old well.

On their last night in Newcastle, we went to our favorite restaurant here in Newcastle, Francescas which is right down the street from our flat.  Kris, Tarrah, Julie, and Kevin all joined us for the evening and we had a lot of fun eating, drinking, and enjoying each others company. 

The Four Fairman Siblings

The four medical school students.

Me and the Hubs

The Whole Gang

Our buddy at the bar.

It was so much fun to have all my siblings here in the UK.  I don't think that many people get to do what we did.  Four siblings, all basically over the age of twenty, with different schedules, jobs, schools, marriage, it's amazing that we got to travel in Europe together.  I love them all so very much and I am so thankful to have the best siblings in the world.  Bert, Rachel, and Anna, I love you to death and I am so glad you guys came to visit Josh and I.  These are adventures and memories that we will talk and laugh about over holiday dinners with the family for the rest of our life.

- Remember the time when we were in Newcastle on St. Patrick's Day and we met "Mark," or "Allen," or "Ellen," or whatever his name was.
- Remember the time when we went on Edinburgh's haunted vault tour and we thought we might all pass out from the scariness of it all.
- Remember the time when we went to the whiskey factory in Edinburgh and we all took shots on the video camera and we made those hilarious faces in front of serious whiskey drinkers.
- Remember the time when we met James Buchanan on the train ride home from Scotland and he offered the girls chocolate and Bert took it and then he couldn't believe Bert's name was "Bert."
- Remember the time when we were on the train to London and we played "F*** the Dealer" without alcohol and we said the loser had to get x amount of noogies, wedgies, and credit cards as their punishment.
- Remember the time when we were walking through St. James Park and Rachel said "I can't control my bowel movements and desires." :)
- Remember the time when the server at The Shakespeare Bar in London brought Anna a "Merry Berry" aka cranberry juice after she ordered a "Bloody Mary."
- Remember the time when we walked the entire length of Hyde Park only to find a playground and all of our feet were hurting and I didn't even want to walk 3 feet to the park gate let alone to the Knotting Hill gate.
- Remember the time when all three of you came to Newcastle to visit me, and we had so much FUN together.


Let's always remember the time spent here.  Because it really was amazing.

Something's Fishy

Josh and I did something a little crazy on Thursday to celebrate the end of his midterms. Yes, crazy I tell ya.  We. Had. A. Fish. Pedicure.  We let hundreds of little tiny fish eat the dead skin off of our feet at a fish spa.  It was the weirdest thing ever!  Apparently, they don't have any of these in the US, but they are somewhat popular here in Europe.  The fish don't have teeth, they just suck at your feet for about 20 minutes and the affect is kind of similar to using a pumice stone on your feet.  It worked, my feet felt silky smooth after.  Although it was a fun experience, I don't know if I really feel comfortable going back.  I can't help but question the cleanliness of this process.  But oh well. It makes for a great story and some very interesting pictures.  Only in England!

Phil, Allison, Me, Josh, Kris, & Tarrah