2015 predictions

I'm blogging from a train! How exotic!

It's £2 for an hour of (slow) Internet. Hopefully some day, when free WiFi flows like water, we'll look back on that and laugh.

Well, the holidays are officially over. Tonight we return to Edinburgh following the big Italy/Exeter world tour. Not to be an old fogie, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my routine.

We've celebrated. We've indulged. We've napped...ever day for the past ten days.

There's been lots cheese. There's been lots chocolate. There's even been cheese smothered on chocolate (no joke—last night I carved the caramel out of a chocolate, stuffed it with creamy Blue Stilton and fed it to Andy's brother).

Now it's time to put the sharp cheddar down and pick up the yoga mat. Also, clean the flat, return emails, check the bank account and make a bowl cut appointment.

But before all that, let's do some predictions for 2015.

Superbowl winner
Seahawks

Celebrity break-up
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick

New Apple product 
iSandal (high tech footwear that moulds perfectly to your arch, calculates your steps and warns you of approaching piles of dog poop)

Hipster food trend
Artisan potstickers

Fashion
Bellbottoms

Mad Men finale
Don Draper takes a bullet for Peggy and dies (not sure who the shooter is...but possibly Margaret, Roger's daughter)

Viral video
Skydiving iguana

Celeb in rehab
Justin Bieber

Popular music
Nelly Furtado comeback album

British TV show remade in America
Goggle Box


What do you predict?

Cheers,
Margaret

Things to retire for 2015

Tomorrow is the first day of 2015. As Nina Simone would croon, "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me...and I'm feeling goooood!"

Before we ring in the New Year, I've made a list of things that we might want to consider leaving behind going forward. "Going forward" is office jargon over here in the UK. For example, "Going forward, do you see us transitioning to an outreach-based approach?" Do people say it in offices in America? Let me know.

Anyhoo, the things on my list aren't necessarily bad. Some are even good (see: 'funny A-frame signs'), but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to flourish forever. With the exception of Kardashian kulture, too much of anything is not ideal. Even the best athletes have to call it quits at some point. The very best have their numbers retired and shirts draped in the stadium for future generations to admire.

So let's agree to leave the following stuff in 2014 and use these imaginative human brains of ours to come up with some cool, original replacements in the New Year.

Words and phrases

• That happened
• For why
• Facepalm
• Adorkable
• FTW (for the win)
• Nom nom nom
• Life hack
• Epic
• Go home [blank]; you're drunk.

Things

• Funny A-frame signs outside restaurants/pubs
• Nail art
• Ironic Amazon reviews
• Moustache-on-a-stick props in wedding photobooths (the rest can stay: feather boa, foam finger, London policeman's hat, etc.)
• Selfies or photobombs (we can only keep one)
• Giant plaid shirts tied at the waist (I'm looking at you, Khloe K.)

Opinions

• Gwyneth Paltrow is annoying
• Photoshop is ruining our body image
• Fox News is the reason the world is going to the dogs
• Kale is the answer.

In general, let's try to be a little less bandwagony, a little less ironic and a little more creative. 

Best of luck to us all, 

Margaret

Rolfe is the worst! #SoundofMusic

Right now I'm watching Fraulein Maria and Captain Von Trapp sing 'Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something gooooooood!' in the gazebo outside his Austrian mansion. It's one of the least familiar scenes to me, since my siblings and I would always fast forward through it. Same goes for 'Climb Every Mountain' (sorry, Reverend Mother!).

But the worst part of the movie really has to be Rolfe. I DESPISE him. I've probably seen the movie 200 times, but I could see it 200 more times and would still feel the sting of betrayal when Rolfe blows his whistle after discovering the Von Trapps in the Abbey. What a JERK. Poor Leisl.

Well, I suppose I buried the lead a bit, but yes - I am indeed sitting at home on New Year's Eve watching The Sound of Music on TV. Let's set the scene a bit more. New bathrobe on, hot water bottle on lap, one full ChicagoTown cheese pizza in stomach, toes flexing away and cracking with each movement... Heaven on earth!

It's nice to be back in Edinburgh, but after having such a fantastic Christmas at home, I already miss Seatown. Ferry rides, walks along the waterfront, a big fat Christmas tree and bowl after bowl of my Mom's b-nut squash soup really hit the spot. Thanks to a lot of help from rkaytboy, Andy and I managed to release our Christmas single and music video at the very last minute. We also made it down to the 'Couve for a day and were greeted with the utmost hospitality that I've come to expect from those 'Couve Rats (a term of endearment). Another highlight - seeing Louis CK live at the Paramount with Andy, Max and Natalie. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I met my nephew Ollie for the first time! We became fast friends. Only 5 months old and he already has a signature dance move - the Ollie shimmy.

Why can't every day be a holiday? How long would I have to be on holiday before I got bored? I think I could last at least 14 months before getting restless. You?

Cheerio,
Margaret

New Year w/ Old friends (rotund stomach & indigestion)

It is the first day of 2009. WOAH. Here's some perspective for ya: Center Stage came out 9 years ago!! Where does the time go? Anna should be comin' up on her 10 year high school reunion. The King Dome has been gone a decade! Facebook was started 5 years ago and I can't believe I ever lived without it. Also, happy 10th birthday to the Euro (which, despite fallin' a bit, is still worth about $1.40...so don't let its monopoly-ish look fool ya).

I sat around all evening waiting to decide on whether or not to go to a party with Anna and her friends, a party hosted by my high school friends, or a party with Barbie, Meghan and maybe other college friends. I read, napped, took a bath, ate an orange, sat in the living room, applied intense healing hand lotion to my dry hands, watched a bizarre HBO movie with my Mom and Dad called The Girl in the Cafe, and took a couple more baths. My stomach hurt, which is a bummer because I thought my new gluten-free diet was helping. Nay- the thing's still round, hard and angry as ever. I'm just waiting for the day I wake up with an "outie" belly button. Just preparing myself for the inevitable. HOW depressing. 

Anyway...when it came time to get ready and go out I just couldn't do it. 

This morning my Dad told me he "rang in the new year with a snore", and I answered "me too". His excuse- being near seniorcitizenship. My excuse- gas, a distended stomach and one heinously bad mood. 

Last year at this time I was in Edinburgh, wandering along the cobblestone streets, climbing the Sir Walter Scot Monument and watching the circling ice skaters, double decker buses, sale-bound shoppers, and street-corner bag pipers below. Hopefully on Jan 1, 2010 I'll be doing the same. 

My new years resolution: blog more. 

We'll see, 

Madge