University of Glasgow Open Day

On Tuesday the University of Glasgow had an open day for the students starting this fall. Hubby and I drove up to check it out and to help him get some answers to questions he had.

I forgot how much walking you do on university campuses! We were all over the place, uphill and downhill. My legs ached all the way around for the next two days!

It felt strange to be on a campus. I'm 34 and my husband is about to turn 32 so we were obviously quite a bit older than most of the people there (most of whom had their parents with them) but it surprisingly didn't bother me or make me feel old. I think with age just comes more self-confidence and definitely less of worring about what other people think of me.

University of Glasgow is one of the ancient universities here being founded in 1451. The older parts of campus were absolutely gorgeous. I think my university was pretty but you can't compare it to ancient Scottish buildings!

Now that we've seen the campus and a bit of the West End I'm feeling better about moving up there. I know it's going to be a huge change from where we are now but hopefully I can get myself and Isaac involved in some things to help us settle and make friends. Man, it's so hard making friends as an adult when you don't know anyone already.

All of the pictures were taken on my phone so they aren't the greatest but I had to share some.

The main thing I'm kind of stressing out about at the moment is finding a place to live. Ideally, we'd like to be within walking distance of campus so that my husband can't walk. But three quarters or more of the flats near campus come fully furnished, probably because they are catering to students. We do not want a furnished flat because all of our furniture is less than a year old and we really like it and it's stressful enough worrying about a toddler damaging carpet and walls, let alone someone else's furniture! So we're really limited on what we can get for housing. I'm sure we'll find something that works for us though.

What an adventure this will be.

Friday at the Seaside

Last Friday we drove to the beach at Allonby. It's not actually the sea though, it's the Solway Firth. A little map to help you understand where it is! I marked Allonby with an "X". 

You can actually see Scotland across the water from there on a clear day. However, Friday was far from clear. It was the only cloudy day this week but it was still nice out. We had lunch at Jack's Surf Bar which is just a typical English pub so I'm not really sure what's with the name. Daddy won Little Man a small stuffed dolphin from one of those claw machines.

Then we went down to the beach. The tide was out and the tide goes way out so we didn't go very far down and instead let the little man play in the rocks because he freakin loves rocks! We brought a bucket and spade and fork but he wasn't interested in the sand much at all. As a matter of fact, as soon as he had sand on his hands he held them up and said, "Tissue! Tissue!" 

He spent ages collecting rocks in his bucket. I'm not sure what the criteria was for a rock to be worthy of being picked up but he seemed to know what he was looking for. The bucket got so heavy that Daddy had to carry it for him.

Before we left we stopped at Twentyman's for ice cream. The homemade ice cream there is famous in Cumbria. Anytime you mention you've been to Allonby the first thing people will ask is, "Did you get some ice cream?" 

It was a really nice day out. It's been awhile since we've had one. I'm glad spring is here.

A Week of Silence

It's been a week since I've updated and it's just because I've been feeling really down lately.

I've battled depression my entire adult life. I'm at a point that I have finally accepted the fact that I will probably be on medication for the rest of my life and I'm okay with that if it means staying out of that deep dark abyss. Because once you fall in getting out is such a long difficult climb.

Lately though, I've been feeling myself slowly sinking. Nightmares have been creeping back while I'm asleep and I know that's a bad sign. It's not the nightmares as much as the subject of my nightmares. It may be time to visit the doctor and have a chat about it. I have a beautiful little boy who needs me and I cannot let myself be swallowed by depression because I need to be functioning and fully here for him. And it's not fair on my husband either.

I'm afraid though of being told that I may need to try a new medication. Because that always runs the risk of not working and allowing things to progressively get worse while I'm testing it out. I am terrified of it getting worse. Because the kind of depression I have comes with a lot of paranoia when it gets bad. The paranoia makes me want to avoid doctors for fear of hospitalization, which I know is silly when I'm not being paranoid. It's just a bad place to be mentally.

But, I will write a promise to myself and my family here. I will phone the doctor this week. I will do something about this.

Silent Sunday {1}

Five Question Friday {1}

1. Will you run to the store or to pick up a kid looking a mess?

Absolutely. I don't go out in pajama bottoms, or anything, but I will throw something on and run out if it's for something quick. It's something that seemed fairly normal in the US but isn't really done here in the UK so I really only do it if it's late at night and I need to run to the store. 

2. Do you finish a book if it's boring or you don't like it? 

I used to insist on finishing every book I started. I just couldn't quit reading a book that I had started. But last year I started abandoning books that I didn't like or that I couldn't really get into. I decided my time is too precious to waste on something simply because I didn't want to be a quitter. I abandoned one book last year and three already this year!

3. Beach or mountain vacations?

Definitely beach but probably not tropical or hot beaches. I grew up in Washington state and those are the kind of beaches I love. I also lived in northern California for several years before moving to the UK and I loved the beaches there too. And here in the UK... nice, quiet, cool and windy beaches. I've been to Hawaii and it was nice but definitely not the kind of beach I prefer.

4. What thing/event says "winter will end and spring is right around the corner" to you? 

My birthday is in the beginning of March and that is always my "marker" to remind me that it's time to get ready for spring.

5. Would you prefer couples or family vacation?

Little Man is two and we've yet to have a family vacation, so definitely family vacation. We've gone to America with him to visit my family but that's not the same as a vacation. My husband and I have had a lot of getaways together before the little one was born and they were nice, but right now a family vacation would be awesome.  

A Thought for Thursday {1}

This is so true. I just wish it hadn't taken me 30 years of life to figure it out. I used to let myself be defined by the things that happened to me. It's not a nice way to live. You spend a good portion of time feeling like a victim. The power of positive thought is amazing. I could try harder to have more of it in my life but my way of thinking now versus just a few years ago is drastically different and because of that, so is my life.

That's my though for the day!

You're Beautiful {1}

I perked up quite a bit when my new laptop got delivered this afternoon! I've been saving up money towards one and then my husband gave me £100 towards it for my birthday last week. I only ordered it on Monday so I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up today!

I'm now typing on my new beauty! It's the sleekest, shiniest, prettiest laptop I've owned. And it was a bargain! I love a good deal.

I got the HP Pavilion g6-1220sa Notebook PC. It's packed with a quad core processor, 6GB of RAM, and a 1TB harddrive! It even has a proper graphics card which means I can use it for gaming (if I ever have the time).

Oh, new laptop...you're beautiful. I love you.

Stock photo because even though I may have perked up, I'm still tired and lazy.

It's definitely prettier and shinier in person.

Wishing the Day Away

Today is one of those days that would be spent lounging around in bed all day if it weren't for having a toddler.

I'm not feeling well. I'm a bit sick and I'm too warm and I'm very tired. It's the kind of day that needs to be spent in bed under the covers with the windows wide open and a good book in my hands with lots of coffee.

Instead, I'm on the couch randomly sweating with the window open, laptop on my lap, CBeebies streaming online, toddler running around yelling, while I'm just wishing for a nap....  for both of us.

The little one isn't well at the moment either. Saturday night he got a high fever. I was able to bring it down with medication but it's been off and on for the past four days now. He now has a bad cold on top of it. His sleep schedule has been so wacky because of it. Last night we didn't go to bed until 1am because of the naps he'd had during the day. When he's sick, I just let him sleep when he wants during the day. I pay for it, but it's what's best for him.

I can tell it's going to be a long day. All I'm looking forward to right now is a shower and my Slimming World meeting tonight because I know it will feel good to get out of the house.

Good Things About Moving to Glasgow

My husband and I are both a bit stressed and nervous about moving to Glasgow. It's hard not to focus on the negative aspects, like the fact that we'll be feel much poorer because housing is so much more expensive. So I decided to try to make a list of the positive things!

♥ The West End Festival looks like it might be good.

♥ All my American friends will think it's cooler than England (even though it's virtually the same).

♥ Get to learn new slang.

♥ A major international airport right in my city.

♥ They have some Mexican restaurants and they might be good.

♥ It has great shopping.

♥ There will be loads of things nearby to do on weekends.

♥ Will be living next to a university built in 1451. That was before Columbus even discovered America.

♥ A much more diverse population in comparison to Carlisle which is 99.1% caucasian.

♥ No prescription fees. Yeah, that's a small thing, but it's still something.

♥ Lochs are obviously cooler than lakes.

♥ Bag pipes and kilts.

♥ It's the murder capitol of Western Europe. Wait... what?