Firstly, I must apologize for my delay in posting—these past two weeks have been very busy, and I’ve been spending minimal time at my computer!

My mommy visited me roughly two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. Here are just some of the things we did: visited Edinburgh Castle, toured the furnished old Georgian House in Edinburgh’s New Town, took a day trip to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, shopped (a lot), and saw the Russian State Ballet of Siberia perform Swan Lake. Not bad, huh? My personal favorite was seeing Swan Lake – it was gorgeous, and our seats were pretty good too. I’ve joined a Theatre society at Edinburgh that organizes great discount tickets to the shows happening in Edinburgh. Oh and how could I forget: I got to see Hamish the Coo again, and this time feed him!!! Very slobbery eater, but too cute!

Then, one of my high school friends came for a week. Lots of visitors happening in March! Again, the week consisted of showing Edinburgh’s splendors off, eating yummy food at the many awesome restaurants the city has to offer, and just catch up on old times.

I thought I might highlight some of Edinburgh’s sites a little more from now on. So to start off, last Saturday a group of my friends and I headed off to picnic it up at the Royal Botanic Gardens! We needed food, but we didn’t head to just any old supermarket—we went to the Saturday outdoor market that happens every week just below Edinburgh Castle. We bought quiche, pies, a homemade raspberry juice/soda, Brie cheese and bread, scones, and I also brought a flower. Then we proceeded to the gardens…the walk was about 45 minutes. Luckily this was a gorgeous day, one of those days when it really starts to feel like spring is arriving at long last. Sure enough we saw plenty of crocuses and snowdrops on our way. Flowers always make me happy so I was all set for the day.

The Royal Botanic Gardens date back to the 17^th century, and are comprised of four gardens and are apparently one of the world’s largest collections of flowers and other plants. We walked around for a while, trying to find the perfect spot for our picnic, and managed to take a lot of pictures in the process; many, of course, of us doing interesting things, but also great shots of the plants.

The picnic lived up to its expectations: the Brie was excellent as was our raspberry cordial drink. One friend even brought her laptop so we had music. A recipe for a fun Saturday!

In the evening some of us in the Theatre Society went and saw the ballet version of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Again, our seats were good and the performance was intense and great! This is one of the things I enjoy most about Edinburgh: there are so many theatre events and cultural performances to enjoy. The Festival Theatre, where the ballet took place, is literally a 5-10 minute walk from where I live. How great is it to have ballet right outside your doorstep? Life is good.