Moment of Fame

Last week, I readily offered my modeling skills to my work place for their up-coming brochure! I did it for giggles and of course was inspired by America's Top Model! Besides, it gave me 2 hours of break from work. Why not. I was the DIY girl for one of their products - Mortgage. Others had really fun roles ie. Bride-to-be, Mom-to-be etc. but I got to dress in scrubs. Oh well. Here's a picture HR decided to share with me from that day. Enjoy!! :-)

Botanical Garden

Let me just start by saying that it's been awfully chilly lately. As north-easterners from the US, just like Spring flowers, our bodies are conditioned to expect sunshine and increasingly warm temperature during this time of the year. It's quite the opposite so far. It'll be warm (mind you, low 50's) one day, and mid 40's (with gusting wind) the next. You never know how to dress for the weather here!

As much as I have whined about the horrible weather in Scotland lately to anyone who is willing to listen, I have to say the weather today is worth shutting me up for at least a week (or so)! It's been beautiful all day, warm (low 70's) and very mild wind. We cannot ask for a better day. That said, we decided to take a walk to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Believe it or not, it's just 1/2 mile from us and we've never ventured beyond the gates. A few weeks ago, we learned that it's FREE (!!) so we decided not to waste this rare and momentous warm day and ventured to the Botanics.

Beyond the gates, we were so surprise that this beautifully kept, gorgeous and spacious garden is free. We wondered how they can afford to maintain it?? Perhaps that's why everything is so expensive - to pay for all the free stuff?? Even more amazing, we were approached by a Chinese girl for a free guided tour to ~7 different green houses - this they typically charge ~GBP3.50/person. They were conducting a bi-lingual tour (today only), introducing plants that were brought over from China years ago. Well, I will unashamedly take full credit for this. I think Dylan truly benefited from this street cred by standing/married to an Asian girl!

Without further ado, here are some pictures that will speak louder than words.

Bank Holiday!

Hey y'all - sorry for dropping off the surface of the earth!!! Yes, we are still alive and well! Life just got really busy since I started work slightly over a month ago - yes, when you stopped seeing entries! ha ha. It's a bank holiday today which allows me a little free time to catch up on things which is why you are seeing this entry now. :-) It's quite strange that they call their holidays "bank holiday", don't you think? There's another bank holiday coming up in 2-3 weeks. Yes, it's also called "bank holiday". I'm not sure if they just can't be bothered to be creative or thought it trivial to randomly name a holiday?

Anyway, we are well but busy. We recently renewed our lease for another 6 months so we'll be in this apartment/flat for another 6 months. It's small but we are adjusting to it though at times we still find ourselves on top of one another, especially on the weekends when I am home all day! :-) Needless to say, looking for a bigger place is next on our list of things to do. At this point, we are hoping to buy. Yes, buy. What we can afford, we don't know. House prices are insanely high in Edinburgh. And the sad thing is, it's not even as bad as London. Unreal. I would say house prices are at par with LA or Manhattan in the U.S.. For example, as an average (mind you "average"), a 500 square feet one-bedroom flat (yes, not even a real house), is about ₤160K, which is about $320K. Average income in the UK is ₤33.5K. To further put it into perspective, for a college grad with about 1-2 years working experience, you can expect to earn about ₤19K per annum. If you convert it into $$ ($38K), it's actually on the low end of average salary for a college grad in Manhattan. You can arguably and reasonably survive in LA or Manhattan with a take home pay of say $2.1K a month. At ₤19K, take home pay is around ₤1,358/mth. After rent and utilities + all bills (on the low end), one is left with say around ₤650. If one chooses to get a car, car payment and insurance (again on the low end) is around ₤200, which now leaves you with ₤450. If you are really good, stay in and cook your own meals all the time, you can get away with ₤150 of groceries. But we know that this is not realistic for a young person. So let's budget for the person to eat out say twice a week (₤17 typical meal + a drink x 2), that's roughly ₤140 rounding. So where are we....we are now left with ₤160. Bear in mind, I have yet to account for toiletries (ie essentials such as shampoo, soap etc.) or incidentals such as movies, clothes, shoes etc. Walk into say a gap in the US and for a decent shirt, it'll cost you $20. That same shirt at Gap UK will cost ₤20. Same goes for shoes, toiletries etc. etc. A basic sedan car which cost $17K in the US will cost ~₤13K in the UK. Going to the movies cost $9 in the US, it cost ~₤7-9 in the UK. And the best parallel comparison that is closest to all your hearts - gas prices - ~$4/gallon in the US, ₤4.40/gallon in the UK. Oh, not to mention, college loan payback that I did not factor into the equation. All that is to say, I don't know how young people (or any average person really) live/survive in the UK?! Anyway, if you are still curious and not bored/confused to death after my rambling, you can go to http://www.espc.com and have a browse on house prices in the UK/Scotland. :-)

We had a brief opportunity to visit London a couple of weeks ago. I had to go down to London for work for a few days and Dylan tagged along for a visit. He managed to see the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, St. Paul's cathedral, London Bridge (which was a HUGE disappointment - I warned him), British library, Tower of London etc.. We didn't get to go around together (I had to work) so we'll try to head down there another time when I am not there for work. But since I have been to London before (maybe 10 years ago, also for a business trip) so it's great that Dylan is now caught up so we can extend our tour together the next time we're there. :-)

What else is new...well, Dylan turned in his first big paper a couple of weeks ago - 14,000 words. Next step I believe is he'll have to defend his paper to a panel of profs. before he moves on to the next phase (year 2). He's still teaching Finance/Business. The semester ends end of June. We are heading to Malaysia/Singapore for slightly over 2 weeks as soon as he's done with teaching. We are very much looking forward to that. It'll be a great opportunity for me to introduce him to my extended family (so far he's only met my mum and sis) as well as for me to show him around my home town.

Now that we have settled into a routine, there really isn't anything exciting to report. We'll keep you posted on our travels in our future updates.

Jacqueline Potter Collection Photography

Many of you have known my love for photography in the last few years. And many of you have been my guinea pigs along the way! The reason for Jacqueline Potter "Collection" and not Jacqueline Potter say...jewellery, is because I wanted to leave room for Photography under an umbrella name. Now you know! :-) So without further ado, I invite you to my photography gallery at Jacqueline Potter Collection Photography website.

Should I submit this to Jay Leno?

Once again, I found this photo we took in Puerto Rico (we were there last July for our 1-year anniversary celebration) since I downloaded a bunch of old pictures from an old memory card. We thought it was hilarious at the time and took the photo with the thought we would submit it to the Jay Leno show. "Cars with Keys Only" - I didn't realise that cars are sold without keys these days??!! :-)

Would you believe Dylan let her out of the house dressed like this?

Yes, I am on a roll today....Well, I just managed to download pictures from an old memory card that I've been meaning to do for a while. And needless to say, we came across some really funny pictures (Kodak moments perhaps) that we just have to share with you.

Back to the picture....it was Sunday morning. I am usually extremely low maintenance but for some reason I was having such a hard time deciding what to wear - I guess that's what happened when I actually cared about what I wear (for a change!). So while I (we) knew I was looking a bit "ridiculous", we were running late, so out the door we went to church. It was such an odd and disastrous ensemble that when we got home later that afternoon, we had to take a picture of my outfit. Yes, I really did leave the house, went to church, walked all over Edinburgh, in that outfit. It's a miracle that I didn't stop traffic with the traffic-light-inspired wear!

Paying taxes owed with credit cards - have we reached a new "low"?

You tell me.....according to Yahoo Finance today (dated March 2, 2008), "The Internal Revenue Service even has a list of features and benefits of paying your taxes by credit card, which include convenience, safety, availability, security, quick confirmation and the chance to gain rewards." What?!?! In one simple gesture of pretense convenience, I think the government is fueling the spiraling economy of United States. One of my co-worker's famous allegory for mis-directed focus is "you are worrying about the finger nail when the whole arm is falling off??!!". In this case, are we applying a band-aid to a leaky dam?

To read the rest of the article....

http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/104467/Resist-the-Urge-to-Charge-Your-Taxes

Happy Lord's Day!

Pictures - Dylan eating stinky cheese - Guyer, in Paris.