Bret's visit: Part one

Bret safely arrived in Harrogate on Friday, October 13th. The good news is that he did make it here. The bad news is that it wasn't the smoothest journey. His first flight, the connection to his international flight, was running late. (Hmm... sounds familar.) I believe he said there was running and worrying involved on his part. (Yep, I remember going through that.) But thankfully, he made his flight with only MINUTES to spare! (Deja vu!) But this is where our stories differ. Then, due to heavy fog in England, his plane couldn't land. This allowed Bret to unexpectedly travel to an additional country that day. The plane made a quick trip to Ireland to refuel while they were waiting for the weather conditions to improve. Amazingly, Bret traveled to 4 countries (the US, England, Ireland and Scotland) in one day! Eventually, when the fog cleared, he landed in Manchester, England where Brandon was waiting to pick him up. Since we were already running behind schedule, we didn't have a moment to spare. Bret showed up to our flat and we were out the door and on our way to Scotland in no time.

It was a 4 hour drive and we made it JUST in time to get to our ghost and ghoul tour that started at 8:00 pm. (Unfortunately, there was more running involved.) It was a lot of fun, and our guide was very entertaining! Our second day in Scotland included the Edinburgh castle, a whiskey tour, lots of shopping, and LOTS of picture taking. We saw William Wallace, a musical performance by a bagpiper, and a grim reaper! See below for the pictures. After a full day of activity and excitement, we headed home.

On Sunday, we traveled to our second destination, York. It's about 45 minutes east of Harrogate. (This is where Brandon and I went on our 1st year anniversary when we were here last year, if anyone remembers.) We went to the must-see York Minster where Bret and Brandon climbed 275 spiral stairs for some amazing views of the city. Maybe if my body wasn't falling apart I could have gone too. I sadly had to stay behind and wait for their return. But it's okay. I was able to go last year... back when I was young and healthy. :) York was a blast as always. As Bret will tell you, each place is very unique and has something special to offer and different things to see. We traveled back home and went to Graveley's for the best fish and chips in the country! I'm pretty sure Bret can testify to that because I think he just about had fish and chips at every restaurant, heehee. :)

Anyway, that covers the first 3 days of his time here. Because there's so much to tell I have to split his visit up. This officially ends part one of three.

I'll write more later. And trust me, you won't want to miss out on what's soon to come! Catch ya later.

Our first night in Scotland.
We had just started our ghost and ghoul tour when Brandon volunteered Bret out of the crowd for our guide's first demonstration. Poor Bret and the random guy beside him received 30 some lashes on the back of their legs! Yikes!

Even though it was Friday the 13th Bret and Brandon don't look very scared to me.
Our guide was a very good story teller. And boy could she keep a straight face!
In the "haunted" vaults under the city streets.
On our way to the castle, Bret met William Wallace, picked up a random bloody sword, and joined him in battle!

The three of us standing in front of the massive Edinburgh castle.
Father and son sitting on a cannon. :)
Once you're in the castle, the whole city is before you!

A cannon that they shot off while we were at the castle.

Watch out; he's looking right at you!
A cool Gothic building in the middle of the city.
 

A bagpiper playing in the streets of Edinburgh! Turn your head and enjoy. :)

Bret sure did get his fill of fish and chips while here. I believe he had it at least 4, maybe 5 times! This picture is his version of the meal. He passed on the "mushy peas" and usually handed them over for one or both of the Riggs to eat. :)
Moving on from Scotland, this was our second stop, York.
The amazing York Minster. Day and night shots.

Trust me, it's quite understandable to get dizzy on those steps. I certainly have.

Bret's saying, "What's 275 narrow spiral stairs? Piece of cake!"
Another angle of the gothic cathedral.
The view is worth climbing up all those steps to get to the top!

I'm a busy girl, what can I say.

Hello all.

Sorry about the slacking in writing an entry this week. I've been a bit preoccupied with various things. As you probably know, Bret was here visiting us the past week or so. He had to go home on Tuesday and we've been catching up since then. We had a WONDERFUL time with him! For now, due to time, I am just writing to say hi and tell you a quick update with what's going on.

Some news in the Rigg household: I got a new camera for my birthday! So this week I've been pretty absorbed with reading the manual and going out to try some of the new techniques I've learned. Although the weather hasn't really been cooperating; the rain has spoiled some of my outings. I'll post a couple of my favorite photos I've taken so far. And of course, all of my pictures are copyrighted, so don't even THINK about saving, downloading, or printing them without my permission in addition to sending $100 (per picture) my way! :)

Well, that's about it really. The biggest recent event was Bret's visit. So you can look forward to hearing all about his time here and all the adventures we had early next week.

Cheers.

I call this piece "Headlights."
The coffee table in our flat.
Soaking in the atmosphere down Coppice Drive.
 

Fall has arrived and I am excited to capture its beauty.
Brandon was a good model for practicing on.
Japanese maple, my favorite!

I used the rain to my advantage to add a cool element/texture to some of my pictues. Although, it was quite difficult to hold to camera, my umbrella, the bag, and try to focus the lens at the same time!
An old car parked on the side of the street. I found a recycling bin at the end of someone's driveway.
 

The Six Stage Progression:

Beware: This blog is overdramatic, quite unimportant, and rather ridiculous. It is by a girl that has nothing to do with her time today. I find the whole thing quite amusing and a bit out of control really. :)

As some of you may have noticed, there has been a lot of visual changes around the Rigg household recently. Well, I specifically am referring to the lady of the house, for there hasn't really been any changes regarding the mister.

For my entertainment, (and hopefully yours too) I am going to do a quick observational study on the last 3 months of my life. There will be no “soul searching” involved, however. Oh no. This study is nothing even remotely close to something so deep and meaningful. It is rather, a reflection on my haircutting habits.

About a year or so ago, I began living by the motto: “Just say no to haircuts.” I’m not sure where it came from or what brought it about, but for some reason it came into my life and I stuck by it. An occasional trim here or there occurred, but as far as a hairCUT, I didn’t believe in it. That is until July 2006.

When straight, my hair had reached half way down my back and was the longest it’s ever been in the 23 years of my life. Some days it was nice, but overall, it was too much for me to handle. Frizz, flatness, and frustration were all a part of my daily hair life.

These are some of the better long hair days. :)

So I decided I had had enough, and it was time to chop it all off. I had become aware of a good hairdresser that attended my church and was ready to try her out. I went to the haircut appointment (sometime in late July) ready for a big change. I was prepared for something dramatic, daring, and bold. I wanted a total different look. I came out with a LOVELY haircut, but unfortunately, it was only 2-3 inches shorter, with some layers, and was remarkably similar to a look I’ve had many times before. Nothing at all against this wonderful hairdresser, she did a great job. It just wasn’t what I was looking for, and I was disappointed.

Phase 1 is the original long hair and phase 2 is the first cut.

On my way to England, I made a quick stop in Indy and had the pleasure of staying the night with my mom. Knowing her to be a great hairdresser as well, I asked her to make it a little shorter. On August 8th, another 2 inches came off, and waa-lah, this is phase 3. Hooray, it was much shorter now and I was so happy! Well, at least for awhile. The problem was that it STILL wasn’t that completely new look I was going for. I felt that I was halfway there.

Haircut #1.

Haircut #2.

On August 30th, I found myself wandering around in Harrogate, eyeing a hairdresser shop. I still had the “Just say YES to haircuts” urge in me. I was making up for lost time! A couple hours later, I came out with haircut #3.

Haircut #3.

Although, I really liked the cut and thought it was so fun and unique, there was one slight problem. Here in England, the mullet is really popular right now, and I didn’t care for the too-close-for-comfort 1.5 inch tail of hair in the back of my head. I felt like my hairdresser had given me the female version of his "trendy" mullet-styled hair. (We did look frighteningly similar.) When my husband made a joking remark (in addition to some nice compliments) about my mullet that was all I needed to hear.

The morning of August 31st, I got out the scissors and a mirror, and gave myself a little trim job making this stage #5. I was quite pleased with this look and must say it was one of my favorite cuts.

Haircut #4.

But as all hair eventually does, it grew. It became very shaggy and untamed; even my husband agreed it was time for ANOTHER cut. On October 3rd, I was back in the all too familiar haircutting chair. This time I had a magazine picture in hand and was ready to go the final stretch. And so, I produce to you my most recent look.

Haircut #5. Left: A little wind-blown, but you get the idea. Right: The day of the haircut.

I’ve wanted this short look all along and was thinking I was going to get it back in July with the very first cut. Through whatever obstacles such as communication errors, time frames, needing to take the next customer, me settling for the outcome instead of saying I was dissatisfied, etc. I’ve struggled to get the look I’ve been craving. Five haircuts later, I am finally there.

It’s been fun to see the progression of all these different looks over the past 3.5 months. And thankfully two of the 5 cuts have been free, so my recent "hobby" hasn't been too expensive. I hope you've enjoyed reading this entry as I have had a lot of fun writing it. And don’t worry, I’m not considering shaving my head... at least not anytime soon. ;)

Stay classy and have a good weekend.

(P.S.- We are having our first ever UK visitor, Brandon's dad, Bret! Woohoo!! Bret arrives tomorrow! We're excited for his time here and look forward to taking him around and sharing all sorts of neat places with him that we've been able to experience. I may or may not be able to do a blog during the time we have a visitor. So if not, have a great next couple of weeks! Love you.)

A medley of topics for the month of October.

This entry is a combination of several different events. I had some catching up to do so you get a 3 for 1 deal this week.

We start with the Harewood house located not more than 15 minutes from our flat in Harrogate. In my opinion, it is a glorified version of the Hilbert Estate, the mansion I worked at for several years in Carmel, Indiana. However, the house is even more grand and the property is much larger. The house was built between 1759 and 1772 for the Lascelles family, who bought the estate after making their fortune in the West Indies through customs positions and slave trading. The estate is now open to the public and offers tours of the house and grounds, as well as a bird garden, art gallery, walking trails, playground, a boating lake, and a cafe. The Harewood house won the Visitor Attraction of the Year award in 1994 and remains a popular tourist attraction. The Lascelles family still live in the house today and to Brandon and my surprise, as we were leaving the estate, we happened to drive out right behind the owners and saw the earl of Harewood with our own eyes.

Event #2: Hooray, we celebrated my birth on October 3rd. I have now lived in this wonderful world for 23 years. Brandon gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and took me to a nice restaurant called "Room." I also received lots of love and many wonderful gifts from friends and family. Thank you for your kindness. Ahh, I do love birthdays.

Last but not least, we visited Rievaulx Abbey, a famous church in the Yorkshire Dales. The abbey eventually became one of the greatest and wealthiest in all of England, with 140 monks, receiving grants of land totalling 6000 acres. It's big and impressive as the pictures will show.

Thanks for reading, I love you, and have a great week.

The Harewood house built between 1759 and 1772.

A waterfall found in the Himalayan Garden, one of many gardens on the grounds.