Sunday, December 31, 2017

❄✩ Christmas Holiday✩ ❄

- A summary of December festivities! -
I had exams on the 18, 19 and 21 of Dec and it felt like the longest exam period ever but I am so glad it's over 


Flatmas dinner with a secret santa and games! Had amazing tofurky vegan roast, Hugo's delicious roasted potatoes, roasted veggies and chocolate brownies and alpro's vanilla ice cream! 


Went to the Saboteur for lunch and then to the Grassmarket to collect my Instagram giveaway prize from the Isle of Skye candles company :) 
This was the day of my last exam and not going to lie - it actually took quite a few hours for the feeling of happiness and relief to settle in 


That afternoon, Julian came over to the flat after Topo, him and I had lunch at Saboteur and I cleaned my room while they played Halo on the xbox. We then baked banana bread, played more Halo, played monopoly and scrabble and ordered Indian takeout for dinner :) 


The next evening, Topo and I went to the Christmas market - finally!!







A page in my bullet journal hehe I've been so inspired lately to do a bullet journal properly and I am so excited to begin! 

On the afternoon of the 23rd, Topo and I met Damon at Waverley station and we headed to Damon's place for the Christmas holiday ☺
The evening we arrived, we went grocery shopping and went caroling! 

The next day, we woke up in the late morning, I painted for a bit then we played monopoly. Later in the afternoon, Topo and I were in charge of making dinner whilst Damon and his mum went to pick Julian and Damon's brother, Dominic up from the train station 


We cooked up a roasted cauliflower - recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver and it turned out amazinggggg and roasted root vegetables and rice :) 

That evening, we played Monopoly (Game of Thrones version which is so great) again and then headed out to the local pubs and met some of Damon's high school friends! Damon lives in a small town called Langholm and honestly, all heads turned when Topo, Julian and I walked into the first pub because we were literally the only non-British people there! and basically in the entire town - it's quite funny actually how we were such a diverse group of people (for Topo I guess it felt like Get Out) 

The next morning was Christmas day!!!
Helped out in the kitchen in the morning and had a lovely Christmas brunch of baked potatoes, toast, avocados, tomatoes and mushrooms and mimosa! 


(excuse the bacon...)


This is Archie (so noisy but still cute) on the left and Trim (really calm and therefore really cute) on the right! 


We stuffed ourselves during Christmas dinner that night - I had vegan pie, nut roast, baked potatoes, broccolli, red cabbage and roasted veggies!! SO YUMMM 
We played monopoly AGAIN that night, a guess who game (where someones writes a famous person's name on a sticky note stuck on your forehead and you'd have to guess who you are with yes or not questions), guitar hero for a bit and cranium! 

The next morning (Boxing Day), we had fruit for breakfast (much needed) and headed for an afternoon hike to the Monument! boy was I unfit






We came back, had snacks, played more guess who and monopoly....


and played monopoly the entire night!!! We didn't sleep at all - we were proper addicts hahahah 
I won 3 games in total woohoo!! 
I took a pic of one of my victories hehe


We then packed up at around 1:30 in the afternoon and went to the station and got on the 4:15pm train back to Edinburgh! Julian, Topo and I properly knocked out on the train 

and then home sweet home!! 


2 mornings later, it was snowing so heavily in the morning in Edinburgh!! What a magical, beautiful sight !! ❅

♥ Claire's Visit!! ♥

Another visitor from Norway came!! ☺

On the first evening that Claire arrived, we had a black bean quinoa chili while watching Riverdale and then we headed to bed! She also gifted me really nice fairy lights and a lovely candle which I LOVEEE - how sweet :) 

The next morning was our first day of exploring! First stop was to the Edinburgh Castle 






We then walked down the Royal Mile, past Holyrood palace and then hiked up Arthur's Seat! 


Beautiful Duddingston Loch



It was insanely windy up Arthur's seat so we didn't stay long before quickly heading back down




Love this pic!


We then went to Maki and Ramen for lunch and some defrosting
also heard Singaporeans a few tables for us and we talked for like 2 mins hahah


We then headed to the Grassmarket :) 


The Red Door Gallery - one of me fav shops on Victoria street!


Went into a Harry Potter shop and there was this photo-taking set up with a table, book, feather pen, wand, glasses and scarf and Claire just looks so adorable here!!! 

That night, we headed to Beverly and Tessa's flat for Beverly's birthday dinner! Had a sushi party and played Exploding Kittens and Bang! and chatted till 12am - t'was a super lovely evening :) 


Had pancakes and topped with banana ice cream and fruit for breakfast the next morning ☺



We headed to Princes Street for some shopping in the morning - Claire got a really pretty mug from Anthropologie and a really nice dish (jewelry holder type thing) with a C on it from Oliver Bonas :) Two really aesthetically pleasing shops where I wish I could get everything from!


We went to Saboteur for lunch! Love this place - highly recommend! After lunch we just headed back to mine and we chilled, watched YouTube videos and then cooked up a feast for dinner - sweet potato fries, bean burgers, sriracha cauliflower with bread crumbs and gaucamole :) 


Topo came round for dinner and we then played Halo with Connor and Hugo! 

The next day, we headed to Calton Hill and stopped by the Old College on the way



Calton Hill 


CUTE



Love this pic of us!!

We then went charity shopping after that and Claire successfully got a few items of clothing and I was really happy for her! I'm always happy when people manage to find things they like in a charity shop hehe it's just so much more satisfying than at a normal retail shop because you never know what you're going to find and you're also supporting a good cause at the same time!! 

In the evening, we did the same vacuum pack trick for Claire and I swear I will use this technique for the rest of my life because it is seriously a life saver! and also super fun to do 

Claire then left the next morning ☹☹☹ WAS SUCH A LOVELY TRIP!!!! Thank you so much for visiting and really hope we get to do more traveling together in the future!! First friend made in AC and friend for many years to come ♡