This Friday, I’ve compiled my favorite Valentine’s Day cards:
1. For the Digital DIY-er: Elise Blaha put together a tutorial of how to use her digital stamps to create some simple, but awesome cards. These would be perfect for really anyone on your list – singles included!
2. For the TV Show obsessed: If you watch a lot of TV shows, then you’ve probably seen Breaking Bad. This card is so perfect!
3. For your single friends: Valentine’s Day is not just for couples. Celebrate the love you have for your friends!
4. For the funny/cheeky person: If you’re involved with someone in that way, then this is perfect. I think males will especially appreciate this one 😉
5. For the traditional romantic at heart: There’s nothing wrong with a little cliche romance. Claim it, and own it! Shameless plug: My Etsy shop is now updated to include new cards, including Valentine’s Day. Also, Christmas cards are starting at $1.50! Get ‘um while they’re hot on discount!
Sadly, this is the last of the #AnnaCoriTakeLondon series. I really enjoyed London, Harry Potter & Culloden Moor, but Inverness & Loch Ness were easily my favorite parts of this trip.
Due to the massive rainstorm the night we landed, we had to stand outside in the rain for a good 30 minutes until more cabs arrived. Turns out, the cab situation is not like New York – go figure! 😉 As mentioned in the Culloden Moor post, we rented a car for our stay in Inverness, but weren’t scheduled to pick it up until the next morning. We stayed in this little Bed & Breakfast with the most adorable Scottish host. He stayed up until 11pm, which is when two soaking wet girls showed up on his doorstep for their stay. I think he felt a little bad for us, so we were upgraded to a nicer room with two beds and a private bathroom. This was my first B&B experience, and I absolutely adored it. Especially the breakfast the next morning. I felt like we were part of his family.
On the way back to the airport the next morning to pick up our car, we had a great cab driver. We told him it was our first time in Inverness, and asked him what we should do. Well, when Scottish people try to tell you directions, it goes a little something like this:
“At the McDonalds in the main square of town, take the roundabout and go straight. At the next roundabout, take a right. Then go straight for awhile, then take a right. After you take a right, there’s another roundabout. Go left at the roundabout until you get to the sheep meadow. Then just go a little farther down the road, and it’s on your left.”
Completely how I tell directions at home, but a little crazy for two tourists who just want to concentrate on staying on the LEFT side of the road. The cabbie told us the best place to eat was at this place called DOORS INN (or how we thought it was spelled). He gave us directions in his Scottish ways, and we remembered about half.
After Culloden Moor, we wanted to see the famous Loch Ness. Early in the day it was completely overcast, but by the time we left Culloden the sun decided to clear the clouds, and it turned into the most gorgeous day. I swear, these photos look like they’re taken on a separate day, and they don’t do Loch Ness justice.
We drove along the side of the lake, and pulled off at different spots to take photos. Along our drive, we noticed the Official Loch Ness Exhibitand decided we wanted to learn all about Nessie. The Exhibit was interesting. It was full of large rooms that could easily hold 50+ people, and we had the whole show to ourselves. Each room had a video that played for 5-10 minutes, and then you moved on to the next room. Unlike other museums taking you through the whole story, they gave up the real answer of Nessie’s existence in the first room. We lost a little bit of our interest for the last 20 minutes of the exhibit.
I didn’t have a selfie stick. Who knew those are such a thing right now?
After the riveting news of Nessie, we drove a little further and ended up stopping for some afternoon tea at The Fiddler’s Cafe. We noticed the sun was started to set, so we decided it would be a good time to start driving back to Inverness. Along the way, we stopped at Urquhart Castle, but we missed opening times by 10 minutes! It wasn’t meant to be, but it definitely gave us both something to look forward to on our next trip.
One place that is mentioned in the Outlander series is the church at Inverness. On our way back in, I really wanted to check it out. We couldn’t go inside, but we were able to look through the windows. It was a beautiful church, situated right on the river. There was another castle like structure across the river that looked interested to check out as well. The Inverness Castle wasn’t original, but a castle has been there since the 11th century! Today, it’s the Sheriff Courthouse and County Hall, and off limits to tourists. But, the grounds were so beautiful.
When we were driving around the Castle, I happened to notice a sign labelled DORES 8. I pointed it out to Anna, and our minds clicked. This was where the cabbie told us to go! The sun was almost completely set by this time, so we decided to hurry over to Dores to see if the infamous Dores Inn existed. And it did! It was situated at the bottom of Loch Ness, with a view that was breathtaking. The sun created the most beautiful colors with the clouds and mountains, and it was honestly one of the best views I’d ever seen. We ate dinner in the bar at Dores Inn, as they were completely booked (who knew?). Hands down, best meal and view of the entire trip.
I’m completely in love with Scotland, and will for sure be back some day.
If you have been reading this blog for anytime this past year, you’ve probably recognized that I love the book series, Outlander. It’s quite honestly one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, and it’s full of characters you come to love so much. It’s just such a great series, and I can’t speak highly enough of it.
When we were planning on this trip, we knew we wanted to take a mini day trip out of London. After looking at areas close to London, we decided to take a couple days and travel up to Scotland. I had been to Edinburgh before, and really loved the city and Scottish people in general. Anna had been to Ireland before, and she really loved the smaller towns of Ireland. So, we combined both of what we loved in our past travels, and decided to go to a small Scottish town: Inverness, Scotland.
If you’ve read Outlander then you know a huge part of the book 1 takes place in Inverness. Needless to say, I was thrilled to walk around the “same places” that Claire had in the 50s. Okay, I realize it’s a fictional book, but still. 🙂
One of the most pivotal moments in the book that is carried on throughout the series takes place at Culloden Moor. Inverness is only about 30 minutes away from Culloden Moor, so we decided to go and check it out. It had rained a lot the night before, which caused some of the roads to be completely flushed out. After realizing our road was washed out, we had a brief little encounter with the police about a new direction to take, and we finally found our way.
The Battle of Culloden was not only an important part of Outlander, but an important piece of history for Scotland. During the 1740s, a large part of the Highlanders were known as Jacobites. Jacobites believed that Charles Edward Stuart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) was the rightful heir to the throne. They held earlier uprisings to fight their cause, but were often defeated. The Battle of Culloden proved to be their last, and worst defeat, and would forever alter Scotland’s political relationship with the English.
The Battle of Culloden is often known as one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland. The Scottish Highlanders used to start their battles with a Highland charge, which was when their whole army would run at their enemy yelling battles cries and beating on their targe. When they finally reached their enemy, their enemy was most often stunned and surprised, and therefore not as well equipped to fight back. The Highlanders also often fought with their broadswords and dirks, instead of muskets, which made them ruthless and their battles bloody. However, during this battle, the English had known about their tactics, used the field to their advantage, and were able to surprise some of the clans based on their location. The battle was less than an hour, and almost 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded, while the English suffered only 300 casualties.
I thought Culloden Moor would only be a field with a museum ran by one older lady. I was completely wrong! The field was huge, and the museum not only had so many artifacts of the Battle and Uprising, but the museum flow was chronologically told from both the Scottish and the English sides. It was interesting to see both sides of the Battle, what led up to it, and the key players that helped form the events.
At the end, they had a couple museum employees show us how they used their weapons, and we could feel just how heavy they were – easily 10-20 pounds each! Definitely not for the light soldier.
After learning a bit more about the specific weapons, we were then able to go to the field. This field is huge, and relatively flat. There were blue and red flags set up throughout the field to show where the starting lines for the English (red) and the Jacobites (blue) were. Before you went outside, the museum gave you a GPS headset that you could play while you were in the field. Each milestone would bring up more information about the Battle, Culloden, and more.
This is an original thatched roof house from the late 1700s. Before this house, it’s thought to have been the surgical location for the English army. I just really wanted to play house in it.
This is where the Fraser clan would have stood before charging to the fight. You can see the marshy ground, which is not easy to walk on let alone run. You can also see how limited their view was, compared to the English.
In the 1800s, the man who owned Culloden Moor commissioned to build a memorial cairn and headstones to mark the mass graves of the clans. How they know where each specific clan was, I’m not 100% sure. Highlanders love to create and tell stories, so I’m sure this information was passed down generation to generation by the Highlander families.
The Fraser Clan stone memorial marker
I really appreciated how the museum was laid out. You had to go through the story of the Battle first before you could go to the field. When I studied abroad in London, one of my classes was on Museums. Until I studied it, I never really thought there was a rhyme or reason to the lay out of a museum, or to the specific artifacts shown. I thought the objects were grouped together because they were connected to each other, either by a person or event, which is usually true. That class really taught me that each museum is there to tell a story, and it’s up to the curators and museum workers to tell you that story without necessarily speaking to you. I was really impressed with how Culloden Moor told the story of the battle.
While the Outlander books have been popular for a couple decades now, the mass population are still unfamiliar with stories. This will change soon as Outlander is now a series on Starz that has won a couple awards and garnered some amazing press for its’ first season. I was really happy to be able to see this before the massive influx of Outlander fans arrived and took away some of the specialty.
I finally finished my first Project Life album! I discovered this form of documenting a couple years ago through Elise Blaha, and decided it would be perfect for capturing my memories post college. Memory keeping for High school and college is very theme based, but post college the everyday is captured just a little more. Mainly because you can only share so many partying studying photos, and this thing called Instagram took off after college.
This system was also very beneficial for me because every inch of space I have in my apartment is important. I used to have so much scrapbooking ‘stuff’ in my old apartments, but moving here I had to really consolidate. This system takes only a handful of things to complete: an album, photo pocket pages, a core kit, pens and most importantly, photos.
Since moving to New York was a natural fresh start, that’s where I decided to start my first Project Life album. I’ll be doing this for 2013 & 2014 as well, so look forward to those coming soon.
When planning this trip, one place that was non-negotiable for us was The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Initially, we were planning to go on our last day before our flight to Scotland. Due to fate and London’s rainy weather, we ended up taking a full day to visit, and I’m so happy it worked out that way. If we went with our initial plans, we wouldn’t have been able to see everything.
Welcome to Harry PotterRoom under the staircaseThe Great HallThe Great HallThe Great Hall
The actual clothes from the professors
Mirror of ErisedHarry’s clothes during the last movie
Really interesting imagery setup. In reality, this was only 2-3 feet long, but it looks longer.Gryffindor Common RoomGryffindor Common Room
I loved the books and the Harry Potter world that you experience through them, but this exhibit was on a whole other level. I thought it was going to be similar to Universal’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Flordia, with rides and such. But, this exhibit housed the legit sets (on Lots J & K for J.K. Rowling) they filmed on, so you actually got to the see the real physical things they filmed. Surprisingly, the sets (like Harry’s bedroom, Hagrid’s house, etc.) were a lot smaller than they appeared on the screen, but I guess that’s just movie magic 😉
Dumbledore’s PensieveDumbledore’s officePotion’s classroomPotion’s classroomPotion’s classroomThis was a sample of the painting’s on the walls of Hogwarts. Most of the paintings are of actual crew members.Inside of Hagrid’s homeThe Weasley’s Kitchen
Ministry of Magic
Diagon AlleyDiagon Alley
There was a whole section devoted to just the CGI experience, like when Hagrid flew in on the motorbike, Quidditch, etc. It was really interesting to see what was CGI and what was real, as you could rarely distinguish between the two. They even had a section where you could pretend to ride on a broomstick, and you bet we did that! 🙂
Hagrid’s ride with a green screen for CGIThe brooms!
After you’re done with Lot J, you go to Lot K where they host all the animated characters that are basically the coolest robots. They take you through a lot of the technical aspects of the different characters, props, drawings of the buildings shown, etc. Before Lot K, you take a break outside where “Privey Drive” is located, along with Butterbeer. Surprisingly, Butterbeer was delicious. A little sweet, a little bubbly, but not alcoholic.
The bridge
Harry’s parent’s house4 Privet DriveThe Night BusInside the night busButter Beer
FawkesHagrid’s headBuckbeakDobby!
The best thing about the whole exhibit was the last room. They created a huge 24:1 (24 feet to 1 inch) model of the entire Hogwarts campus. You could walk all around it, starting from the top, and moving slowly to the bottom. Not only could you see how Hogwarts was laid out, but the lights and music drifted from day to night, including dusk and dawn, to really see Hogwarts at all times of the day. At night, the lights inside the buildings would come on.
Hogwarts CampusOllivanders
It was truly such a spectacular visit. It’s a go at your own pace tour, and I think we were there for almost 4 hours. I’m pretty sure we read every single sign. I highly, highly recommend going here if you ever visit London.
In early October, my friend Anna and I took a trip to London, England and Inverness, Scotland. We got to do and see so much, which is why I’ll be breaking up this story in a couple parts.
I studied abroad in Londonin the spring of 2011, and this was my first time back to London (& Europe), since I returned home. To say I had a good time studying abroad would be such a drastic understatement. After finding ridiculously low priced airfare from AirFare Watch Dog, we booked our flights almost a year in advance. I was so happy to be able to travel with one of my very best friends to a place that is so special to me, and share that with her. We did a lot of the things I had already done before, but we ended up finding new places to go and things to do. We had exceptionally great weather for London though. It rained one morning, but other than that, it was so sunny and gorgeous!
First Night:
We stayed near King’s Cross, so we took the Tube to London Bridge on our first night. Of course, we had to go see Platform 9 3/4 when were were at King’s Cross. It’s funny how much it’s changed in 3 years. In 2011, it was literally just the cart at the actual place of where Platform 9 3/4 would be (between Platform 9 & 10). Now, they’ve remodeled King’s Cross so the cart is in the front area. They actually have a couple entertainment people there with props, who can take a professional photo for you. If you’re not by yourself, you can just have your friend take your photo (like we did).
Tower BridgeLondon Southwark Bridge
Covent Garden:
One of my favorite places in London is Covent Garden. I love that this market is half indoor, half outdoor. It’s very ‘modern posh’ now, but it used be a huge red-light district of London in the 18th century, so it still has that gritty feel to it.
The paella at Covent Garden is amazing, and hasn’t changed. I mean, look at that mussel! So great.
Covent GardenCovent GardenCovent GardenPaella at Covent GardenCovent Garden Paella with the biggest mussel everThe BEST cookies in Covent GardenTrafalgar Square
Buckingham Palace:
Ah, Buckingham Palace. Where the Queen resides, where Kate & Will had their first married public kisses, and where the great Prince Harry lives only a house away. There is a long, straight road that leads up to Buckingham Palace, called The Mall, and it was just the perfect fall day there.
The Mall
The Mall, leading up to Buckingham PalaceBuckingham PalaceView of The Eye from St. James’ ParkWestminster AbbeyBig Ben
Big Ben
Shoreditch:
When I was studying abroad, I spent a lot of time in Shoreditch. Most of my study abroad group lived in Shoreditch, so we usually went out in that area. It’s definitely ‘the place’ to be now, especially if you’re a young college student. Anna and I went to see it at night, and ended up stumbling upon this amazing food market that reminded me of Smorgasburg in Brooklyn.
Food in Shoreditch
Tower Bridge & Tower of London: The Tower of London & Tower Bridge never get old for me. The Tower of London has been around since the 12th century, and it’s absolutely such a unique site to visit. The Tower Bridge is obviously a little newer than the 12th century, but I love how they matched the esthetics to the Tower of London. I always think it’s so amazing that there are a large group of people who live in the Tower of London, and still to this day, defend the Queen. While most of their day job is now telling stories to tourists, I love that traditions and old laws are still semi in-tact in London.
This year, the Tower of London was celebrating WWI in a really unique way. They put out 800,000+ red, plastic poppies to commemorate each soldier that lost their life during World War I. It was absolutely stunning to see all of the red poppies against the green grass.
Tower BridgeTower BridgeTower of London with 800k+ red poppies to commemorate those British people who lost their lives in WWI
Tower of London
Millennium Bridge:
One of the key bridges in the Harry Potter movies is the Millennium Bridge. I actually never ventured to see that, or St. Paul’s Cathedral when I studied abroad. I also never read Harry Potter until 2012 – gasp! – so this was really exciting to see.
St. Paul’s CathedralMillennium BridgeView from Millennium BridgeMillennium BridgeMillennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral
University of Westminster:
This is where I lived and studied for 6 months in 2011. It was so special to show Anna this little slice of my past life. The Harrow campus has changed so much, but it was so good to go back and see it.
University of Westminister – Harrow Campus
Hyde Park & Kensington Palace:
Hyde Park in London is like what Central Park is in NYC. Only Hyde Park is connected to an actual palace, and Central Park is not. Kate & Will actually live in Kensington Palace now, so we were so close to the Duchess!
Swan Lake in Hyde ParkHyde ParkA little sunny in Hyde ParkHyde ParkKensington Palace PondKensington PalaceKensington PalaceGardens at Kensington PalaceGardens at Kensington PalaceAfternoon Tea at Kensington Palace
Borough Market:
One of my other favorite places in London is Borough Market. It’s this giant outdoor market that has such great meats, cheeses, pasta, etc. It was a little disappointing because we weren’t aware that the ‘full’ market is Thursday-Sunday, and we didn’t go on one of those days. But, it was still great to wonder around.
Borough MarketBorough MarketBorough Market – the best pastaBorough Market
I hope that if you are fortunate enough to go to London, you have the best time! It’s seriously one of my most favorite places. The next parts of our trip include Harry Potter & Scotland!
It is freeeeezing here, and my mind is constantly wondering “Why didn’t I move to California again?”. Just kidding…….But seriously. The Snow Miser has worn his welcome, and the sad part is I don’t think it’s even close to being over.
A couple fun and interesting things from this week:
I found this shop, The Tiny Collection, on Etsy when I was looking for candles, and I loved it. It’s so simple, so cute, and they have so many options! I ordered the Pine Cones candle, and it smells amazing.
You may have heard about this earlier in the week as it swept the retail sphere, but C.Wonder is closing! My all-time favorite sweater is from C.Wonder, and their cloths are just so great. Although, a little overpriced – hence the store closings. It’s crazy to me they didn’t even try to do an overhaul strategy tactic to see how they could be more profitable. Instead, they just completely shut down the brand. It’s a really interesting case study on starting and maintaining a business, especially a brick and mortar clothing store.
If you don’t know by now that my favorite blogger is Elise Joy, then you probably don’t know me that well. But hey! Better late than never to learn a little something, right? Well, Elise has a weekly podcast, Elise Gets Crafty, which has been running for almost a year. It’s really great to listen to if you’re into running a small business, goals, creative thinking and action, etc. It sounds just like a fun, informative phone call between two people – Elise and her guest of the week. Podcasts are the new booming digital medium, in part thanks to the wildly successful Serialpodcast, so it will be fun to see how this medium evolves throughout 2015.
In other exciting Friday Finds, I found my flight to Paris in February! We are officially booking flights for work today. While I will be there for work, I will get a full day, night, and then half a day to roam Paris by myself. I haven’t been since 2008, and honestly, I don’t remember much of those 3 days. I love Kelly Purkey’s guides for Paris, but I’d love any tips and recos for what to see, eat, and watch in Paris, from you!
In 2014, I decided to start a new personal challenge of reading 50 books in 1 year. I read 10. Needless to say, I didn’t quite meet my goal like I wanted too, but I did acknowledge that it was an aggressive goal to begin with. I swear, in 2013 I read at least 25 books, so I thought 2014 would be no problem. But then, I discover Outlander, and was hooked to all 8 of those glories 1,200+ page books. It took me 10 months to finish, but I did! I’ve read two other books since then. The latest one I still need to blog about, so look out for that soon.
I’ve decided that for 2015, I’m still going to stick this goal out. I want to finish reading 50 books. Heck, maybe I’ll even finish this year! 😉 What I love most about this is that it’s my first project oriented goal (if you can call reading a project). And I’m determined to finish it. I also just really love to read, so this is the perfect excuse reason to continue carving out time specifically for reading.
You can check out all the books I want to read here, but these are next up on my list:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt– I’m 60% done with this book. So far, it’s terrific writing, but the plot moves a little slow. I was told it picks up in the end, so I’ll finish this out.
Cori's Corner 