CasaPope: 2014-06-29

Growing up in the US, the phrase, "Spring Break" was loaded with meaning. It wasn't just a week long break from school, or a week on the beach, it was a way to immortalize your year. Your mind chronicles it as "Spring Break '98!" etcetera. It's how you remembered that year, albeit you likely didn't remember that spring break itself in its entirety. MTV paid tribute to it for multiple weeks by chronicling the spring breaks of thousands of kids/students across the country. Spring Break Daytona, Spring Break Lake Havasu (?) come to mind. Lets not forget that our beloved South Padre Island from our childhood was trivialized into a simple "SPI." Granted, I never participated in the debauchery that were these rites of passages, nor do I regret it, but that's not what this post is about.

In Scotland there is no such thing as "Spring Break." Instead we have a 2-week-long EASTER BREAK!!!!!!! Not sure it has the same ring to it or connotation, but such are the ways of the Scots, and the Brits for that matter. Always polite, proper, and solemn.

So what does the Pope Clan do for EASTER BREAK 2014!??!?!?!

Not much.

Castles are the business of the day, as they are most every other weekend in Scotland, especially when you have whole transport systems and carriageways devoted to a thing called The Castle Trail.


Loves to run hills. Good 'cause she'll hate 'em later.

Easter Weekend at Castle Fyvie

Oh pretty bird!

Pinwheel, pinwheel, spinning around. Look at my pinwheel and see what I've found...

Late March saw some exciting times at CasaPope. Stella was getting ready to turn 2 YEARS OLD!!!! AND we were getting the boot from our Irvine Place house. To top it off, we also received a Pre-Birthday-Birthday Visit from Grandma & Grandpa Pope!

MOVING HOUSES
While we would have been happy at that flat for the next 2-3 years, our landlord was returning (quite unexpectedly I presume) from Houston of all places (Houston/Aberdeen transplants are incredibly common in reality). She was generous enough, however, to give us not only a huge advanced notice, but also was willing to let us out of our lease a few months early since the Aberdeen rental market is ridiculously tight, and since the forced move out wasn't OUR doing.

Let me preface that houses in Europe and the UK, or really anywhere outside of Texas are not very big. They don't come with built-in closets as standard (let alone walk-in closets), and they have these things called "electric showers" which can be unnerving at first thought. So when you find something that busts all the aforementioned standards, you've hit the JACKPOT!! Another difference-in Scotland primarily-is that homes are listed based on number of rooms, but not necessarily by square footage (meterage). So you might find a listing with 4 bedrooms and 2-3 public rooms (public meaning living room, dining room, kitchen, etc), but it might be smaller than your college dorm.

So after scouring the daily, hourly, minute by minute listings,Stella and I began to grow increasingly frustrated by the market. We viewed something like 10-11 properties in 2 weeks and would come back flat. While we could live quite comfortably in any of them really, it was just disheartening to think we'd have to pay more for less space and fewer amenities that we had at the current house.But alas! We finally found a GEM! We knew we had been incredibly lucky to begin with, when we snatched up our Irvine Place property, especially at the price, but amazingly we found an upgraded property listed nearby on Devonshire Road STILL within budget as well. Still within walking distance to the city centre, James' work, our medical practice, some small grocery stores and a park to boot. So we were a bit forceful in scheduling a viewing, but we were desperate to see this place having already seen quite a few previous duds. If this one was half as good as the listing seemed we would be sold. Luckily, it WAS awesome and we made an offer on site! However, there were 2 other offers that came in that same evening and we were gutted. We were sure that our offer would not beat out the others. Depending on the owners/listing agents, you only get one shot at an offer here in Aberdeen. A detail we didn't find out until AFTER we submitted our offer. Had we known that, we would have offered a wee bit more since the house was slightly under our budget. Hence we felt defeated thinking we'd missed out on a great house not realizing that we wouldn't be able to increase our offer after the fact.

A day or two later, while having a nice quiet visit with Stella's Health Visitor at our neighborhood medical practice, James calls and calls uncontrollably, then finally leaves a text: "we got devonshire rd!" Again not sure what the other offers were, but the owners liked ours best somehow and we were stoked.

Unfortunately in order to make our offer most appealing we agreed to a pretty quick move-in date that coincided with family visiting and with Stella's 2nd birthday. Not to mention we were without the help of a moving company either. But we survived and everything went smoothly.

Again, while we enjoyed our time at Irvine Place, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our new home. Not only did we find something with the same amount of space (which was difficult in itself), but we found one with MORE. The neighborhood is nicer and quieter and perfectly tree-lined. We have corner coffee shops, cupcake shops, bakery, butcher, (wine shop), and a newly-opened ice cream shop!

Plus, if we stay here long enough, Stella's primary school will be just around the corner too!
So we're optimistic to see what life on Devonshire Road will bring!
(Oh did I mention the amazing master bathroom we have, complete with a separate claw-foot tub and double sinks, finally. James and I have, oddly enough, NEVER had separate sinks.)

It's my absolute favorite room in the house!

GRANDMA & GRANDPA POPE
So when you turn 2 you get to celebrate your birthday 2 times. (Somehow I haven't been able to negotiate this same deal for my 27th (+/- 5 years) birthday. So to Stella I just say, "Milk it!"

Found the tutorial for this in a magazine that Grandma Jill had brought with her and it was SOOOOOO simple to make. Plus "dog" was one of the first words Stella knew and could readily identify so it was perfect. Granted that one ear is wee bit large-woops!

This child is soooo spoiled. She has 4 Christmases and multiple birthday parties! Last year, I couldn't even remember MY OWN birthday!

Finally ready for a stroller & doll. We working on her empathic and nurturing side.

Oooh! Golf clubs!!!! Her swing is actually coming along quite well now.

So for some reason, Stella was perfectly happy pushing the doll in the stroller, but if ever she came face to face with the doll (Cupcake), she would have a meltdown.

I guess those doll's eye are a bit freaky!

Stella always loves when family comes to visit. She knows it's all about her and she puts on a show, highlighting all her tricks!

STELLA TURNS 2! (or 21 based on the melted icing on her cake)
So again, Stella's birthday coincided with our move-out date from Irvine Place, but we had managed to buy ourselves a week of overlap to help get settled into Devonshire Rd and to do all the moving ourselves. We planned a small play-date party for her actual birthday complete with a bus cake! Stella's favorite nursery rhyme (?) or song is the Wheels on the Bus! I'm not sure who was more excited about the cake. Me or Stella?