York!!

Last weekend, Chris took me on a surprise trip! We went into town, and I was totally under the impression that we were going to the cinema (which, by the way, is why i'm not wearing any make up in the photos!), but in fact we went to the station. I was really surprised and confused, but then I guessed that this was the surprise that Chris had mentioned earlier in the week (and later told me it wasn't going to happen!). The York train was standing on the platform so I knew straight away where we were going and got really excited.

We walked along the city walls from the station, in towards the town. The first of my treats was that I was allowed to take as many photos as I wanted with Chris in them. This was a treat because he usually gets annoyed by me wanting to stop every five minutes to take photos of stuff. He gets even more annoyed usually if I want him to be in them but today he just agreed happily and made silly/happy faces as required :)


Our walk along the walls took us to the bridge over the River Ouse, which runs through Yorkshire. There were these fancy lamp posts on either side of the road, at the middle of the bridge.


We wandered around a bit, and went into a few shops, then Chris told me that my next surprise was that I could choose any food and any restaurant I wanted for us to have lunch in. Being the imaginative type, I chose Pizza Hut. Although this was largely because I could smell pizza at the time, coming from Pizza Express, and I knew that Pizza Hut is better AND cheaper - so it made sense to go there!


On our way there we walked up the big pedestrianised street (I have no idea what it was called or anything) and there was this York Residents Festival, or something, going on. In the middle of the street there was a brass band playing - a really good one, so we stayed and I took a couple of photos and we listened a while. We had to queue to get into Pizza Hut but not for too long, and the pizza was great :)


My next surprise was probably the best one - I got to pick anything I wanted and Chris would buy it for me! Naturally I chose carefully, and looked in lots of shops. In the end Chris spotted this lovely little dress, and the necklace as well, in a little shop called Echoo. I tried it on and it was just brilliant, and not too expensive either (he didn't mind but I would have felt guilty if I'd spent much more of his money!

After shopping we went for a drink in a pub called Lendal Cellars, which was underground!


Then we went for a walk around the botanical gardens


and down to the river.


We saw a ruined watch tower or something on the shore,


and we found the ruins of the abbey as well.


Evensong at the minster began at 5.15pm so it was getting pretty dusky by the time we got there (at about 4.45, to make sure we got good seats). The music was really lovely, although I had a small issue with the tenor soloist. But he didn't really spoil things. The sound of the choir girls and the male choristers just sent shivers up and down my spine!

Our train home was a 6.30, and I slept most of the way. I'd had a really lovely afternoon, it was a great surprise and a day I will remember for many years to come.

Anyone from the U S of A??

This is my visitor map from the USA. If you think one of these might be you, then give me a shout! Comments are still being moderated, but unless you tell me otherwise then I'll post them when I get them (I like to show them off!)

Thanks

Visitor Map

Hey guys! This is a map of where all my recent visitors are from - pretty cool huh?
I was thinking it would be really cool to know who was who and stuff, so next time you have a read, leave me a comment with your name/dsp user name, and where you live, and i'll see how many of you I can match up! The counter tells me your ip address, your isp, your browser and your screen resolution, so if you wanna tell me those things as well, I'll be sure of getting people right.

Obviously I get the whole privacy thing and will attempt to set the comments private. Will let you know when that's done so you can feel safe posting your info if you want. *EDIT* ok comment monitoring is on, so if you send one with personal info I will make sure no one else sees it.*end EDIT*

BTW, Dad, I already have you. Not sure if Mum has the same IP address as you or not... But I think I have her at work, cos her company came up as an ISP.

tg13, there was one from iceland was directed from a comment on your blog so i'm guessing that was you!

But I don't know anyone else :)

Selective Colouring Tutorial

Ok guys, here's the tutorial I promised. I use Photoshop CS but I think I kept it simple enough to be transferable.

1. Open your image in your program save a new copy of it before you start editing.
I picked this one because the focal part, the long building, is not very obvious, but I don't want to crop the photo. Selective colouring will highlight the building without losing the rest of the scene.

2. Duplicate the layer
3. On the top layer, select the portion of the photo that you want to be in colour - just do a basic square just now, if you want to make it shaped you can do it later.

4. Reverse/invert the selection (in Photoshop, there is a Selections menu at the very top...) and delete, so only the part of the image you want coloured is visible. (it won't look different yet because the same image is underneath!)

5. Select the lower layer by clicking on it in the layer palette. Desaturate the whole thing. Now you should see your coloured part against the b/w part.6. At this stage, you may want to keep the colour just to your focal object - the building in my picture. Select the top layer again, the coloured one, and make sure there are no marching ants indicating selections. Then take the eraser and simply rub out all the bits that are coloured which you don't want to be. If you make a mistake, simply undo.
If you know how to use masks, you can use those instead of erasing and deleting parts of the top layer. That way if you rub out a bit you don't mean to, or you change your mind and want more of the image in colour, you can just draw it in. If you don't know masks, there are loads of tutorials on the web, so just google it!

Thanks for looking
Katie

http://www.pixarra.com/
www.panosfx.com

I'm just putting these here to remind me to look at them later! lol
You can ignore this post

MOUSE!!

We caught one of the mice!!!! Look how cute and tiny it is!! Gale found it sniffing around a big crisp bag in her room and scooped it up in the bag then tipped it into a jar. We kept it overnight and took it to the Meadows this morning to set it freeeee!
It was so cute! Gale totally wanted to keep it as a pet but I wouldn't let her.

Christmas and New Year

After all my exams had finished, I took the train down to Guisborough to stay with Chris. I arrived at lunchtime on the 19th; my last exam being the day before.


In the evening we went to choir practise, for 9 lessons and carols on the Sunday night. I really enjoyed the singing, and learnt some nice new carols as well, including Dixit Maria, which Chris wants me to come down the aisle to at our wedding (although I think it's a bit too long really).


On Saturday morning, we got up really early and went to deliver Christmas cards for Chris' Scout Group's Scout Christmas post. It was nice to be out in the fresh air and we got the job done twice as fast because there were two of us. After lunch we went to the local supermarket to join the rest of the Scouts bagpacking, to raise money for camps and things the following year. I had a really good time, although it was hard work! In the evening we went out to the pub with Chris' friends for a few drinks and a chat. It was nice because I haven't seen them since October!


Sunday morning brought church, as always. Peter(Chris' Dad) and Debbie(Step-mum) brought Ella, Debbie's granddaughter, and Chris, Nick(younger brother) and I sang in the choir. Peter made a lovely roast dinner for lunch and I wrapped some of Debbie's Christmas presents for her while Chris and his brothers went to deliver some more Christmas cards for the Scout Christmas Post.

In the evening was the Nine Lessons and Carols service. It began in darkness with one of the sopranos singing Once in Royal David's City, then the rest of the choir joined in on the second verse and we processed up the aisle from the back of the church and into the choir stalls. All the readings were well done, and all the carols were good. I had a couple of moments where my mind went blank, and at one point I sang during a men's verse but nobody except the choirmaster seemed to notice! At the end of the service we sang Hark the Herald and the choir processed back up the aisle and out the door of the church (then we ran back round and in through the vestry door because it was freezing cold outside!) After the service, a lot of the choir and other folks had been invited for drinks and nibbles at Bill and Kath's (a couple from the congregation)

We spent the next few days before Christmas visiting all Chris's family. We went to see Nanna, at the cafe she works at, and we got scones and drinks for free. Afterwards, Chris took me out to the the little layby which doubles as an overflow for the carpark, and started teaching me how to drive forward and back really slowly, just on the clutch. It was probably the scariest thing I have like ever done, which I know is silly because there was no other cars, and there were only bushes to crash in to, not exactly life threatening!! One evening we went to see his Grandma and Grandad for a cup of tea and a chat, and then went on to see his Aunt and his cousins. We also visited his brother and his girlfriend at their house to exchange Christmas presents with them. We took Lewis and Adam, the kids of the brother's girlfriend, to visit Chris's mum Helen, and Barry, and we played with trucks and cranes and diggers and things all afternoon! We didn't do much else though. We spent a lot of time eating and watching TV, and doing some present wrapping, and we generally just relaxed.


On Christmas Eve we went to Midnight Mass, which started off the same as Nine Lessons and Carols, but was a full length Communion service, so I was really sleepy by the end. There was plenty to sing though, all my favourite carols so I managed to stay awake.

Christmas Day was really good fun. We got up to go to church again, another communion service, although this one was a bit shorter. After that we opened all our presents!! I got slippers and socks and a dressing gown and blankets, some Baileys liquor and truffles, perfume and jewellery and some moisturiser and stuff. Peter(Chris's Dad) made the dinner - we had turkey and roast beef and stuffing and Pigs in Blankets and all the trimmings, it was really great. And we had a proper flaming Christmas pudding with brandy butter! It was quite a treat! Debbie's (Chris's stepmum) family were there too - her son, and her eldest daughter and son-in-law, and her step dad all came for dinner, as well as me and Chris and Peter and Matt (Chris's twin) it was quite a crowd. After dinner Debbie's younger daughter came with her grandaughter Ella and her partner, Ella's dad. When they arrived Ella opened all her presents and made a mess everywhere with the wrapping paper - I wish I'd had my camera!! In the evening, Chris and I went over to see his friends Chris and Ruth, and our other friend Ste(phen) came as well. We had drinks and a midnight feast and we swapped presents and we just had a lot of fun. Chris (not my one, the other one) had got a labyrinth game for Christmas - you roll a ball bearing around a wooden board which has walls to go round and holes to avoid falling down. It was really good fun but totally frustrating!!

On Boxing Day, we went carol singing in the hospital and nursing homes in Guisborough, with the choir, and I really enjoyed it, although it was SO warm in there! We also went shopping in Middlesbrough and Chris bought an iTouch (really fancy iPod thing) for himself with all his Christmas money. I got a jumper and a pretty top in the sales, so I guess I did quite well. It wasn't nearly as busy as we were expecting, but that was definitely a good thing, and we had a really good day as well. In the evening we went to the pub with a Peter and Nick (one of their pubbing friends, not Chris's little brother called Nick!)

The 27th was a Saturday, but we didn't do much really. We hung around at home most of the day and then in the evening we went out again, Nick and all the others who weren't there on Boxing Day.

Sunday bought more church and more singing, and a gorgeous turkey and leek pie, with the last of the Christmas turkey. And a trip to the pub in the evening. It was really all very civilised and normal after the excitement of Christmas!!

On Monday we went to visit Helen and Barry again, and we had a lovely dinner of stew and dumplings, with a selection of puddings left over from the festivities to finish up. In the evening, I had to get the train back home. Marsailidh, Megan, Gale and Andy Phil came and met me at the station and helped my carry all my bags home, which was nice, because I would totally not have managed on my own!

I spent all Tuesday tidying up and Chris arrived in the evening, too late to do much except go right to bed! On Wednesday morning, we did a little shopping, for a sporran and a ghillie shirt for Chris to wear with his kilt, and we met up with Peter and Debbie for a while, who were also in Edinburgh for New Year. In the afternoon we headed over to the house to see my family and to stay a couple of nights. Wednesday was also Hogmanay, so Princes Street and the Mound and the Royal Mile were all cut off from traffic to set up for the street party, and there were barriers all along the pavements making it jam packed and noisy, but the atmosphere was so exciting!! In the evening, my parents and brothers, Chris and I and Peter and Debbie all went to a ceilidh at my church to dance in the New Year. We had a really good time, and everybody got on well, which was a bit of a relief, seeing as our parents had never met before! Afterwards, we all came back to the house for a couple of drinks, and then took Peter and Debbie back to their hotel. Christ and I and Peter went along to our friend James's house to First-Foot and wish them all a Happy New Year! We didn't stay too long, and headed back to the house about 3 to crash into bed for like 10 hours!!

On New Year's Day, we had a relaxing day at the house, playing on the WiiFit that Peter and Andrew got for Christmas. We had a nice beef casserole for dinner, and a lovely red wine, and afterwards we played the game Chronology, which Chris excelled at, even though he'd never played before.

On the 2nd, a Friday, Chris and I went shopping in town, to exchange his sporran for one which wasn't rusty and broken, and to see if we could find anything in the sales (although we didn't). In the evening we went to the pub, Jekly and Hyde, for a few drinks, with a whole group of my friends and on the way home we found loads of temporary "No Parking" signs left over from Hogmanay, and did the city a favour and cleared them up :)

He had to go home on Saturday morning, which was dissappointing because we'd been together for so long. His term started on the 5th, but I had another week, so I did lots of shifts at work, and spent the rest of my time lazing around and feeling holiday-ish. I'm back at uni now, but that's a whole other post.



Hope you all had a great Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year!
Katie

December!

So, the First of December, Chris and I got up at 4.30 to get him to the station for a 5.50 train, and we went outside and there's snow on the ground!! :) After seeing him off, I headed to the 24hr computing lab at uni to finish of my Psychology report, before a 2 o'clock hand in (bit last minute, I know! lol) Then straight away that afternoon I had to start on my Ancient History essay which was due on Friday! See now why I've had no time for blogging?!?!



My Cubs on Monday night were making puppets for the show we were planning for the following week, and on Wednesday, I went over to Kirstin's to write Christmas cards and watch a DVD. After my essay hand-in on Friday, I did some Christmas shopping, which was great fun :) I went to the German market and bought myself a traditional pretzel to have with some soup for my dinner, and I managed to get three presents as well :)



On Saturday I went up to Bonaly Scout centre, on the bus, all on my own, to go to Cub camp, because I was in charge of three whole activities! In the morning we made Chinese lanterns, and in the afternoon we made African drums out of plastic cups and greaseproof paper and elastic bands :) and the third one was just a game to move sweeties around using chopsticks, which some kids struggled with but they all loved :)



On Sunday morning I was back home for church in the morning, then in the afternoon I did a shift at Corstorphine hospital, before heading back to the flat to start revision for my exams!!



I had no classes from Monday 8th onwards, so I spent pretty much all of my time revising, apart from going to cubs on Monday night, and doing a shift on Tuesday and another on Wednesday, right up until my first exam on Friday, which was Classical Art. That went ok, although maybe not as well as I had hoped it might.



On Saturday morning, I had to go bag packing at M&S with the Cubs and Scouts, but only for two hours, and afterwards I managed to finish off pretty much all my Christmas shopping. In the evening Kirstin and I made another trip to the cinema, this time to see the film Inkheart, which was really really good :) Sunday was church as usual, and I spent the afternoon at home revising the calculations for the statistics section of my Psychology exam. In the evening, Mum and I went with Dad to the Nine Lessons and Carols service at Abercorn, one of the churches in the parish where his final placement is, and I got to sing almost all of my favourite carols, AND Dad dragged me into doing his reading at the last minute - the one about the shepherds. It was a nice little church and a nice service, and we got mulled wine and mince pies, and I got to practise my carol singing before going to Chris's the week after.



Monday 15th was our last night at Cubs so we played the chocolate game and we had chips, which is a treat for me because I so rarely eat them! Literally all of the rest of my time that week I spent studying for my other two exams. Ancient history was alright, although like Classical Art, could have gone a bit better, and Psychology was really good. Well, you know, as good as exams could ever be! My classmate Eddy and I swapped Christmas presents as well - I'd got him one of those heads made out of saw dust and grass seed in a stocking-ball, which grow grass as hair when you water them. He thought it was brilliant, and promised to grow it and trim its hair to look like his own :) He'd got me a woolly hat (so I'd stop stealing his) and a pair of pink Minnie mouse slipper socks.



That evening at the flat, Megan came over, and she, Marsailidh and I had pizza and nachos and we watched a DVD :) after that I had to pack all my stuff ready to go away because I was getting the train the next morning to go and stay with Chris for Christmas!!



I feel this story would fit better in a post of its own, so although I said two posts, I think I shall write a third as well, although it will have to wait because my train is nearly into Edinburgh, and I have a lot to say!


Speak soon! Katie

Gang Show

Dear friends,

I'm sitting on the train, eating a gammon sandwich, and feeling lonely, so I thought I would take this opportunity to update you on what I've been doing for the last two months. As you may guess from my lack of posting, I've been really really busy, so I'm going to split it into two different posts for you, in case you need an interval!



The Gang Show was actually on in the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh! It ran from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd, including a matinee performance at the weekend! Fortunately I had no assignments due that particular week, so I was able to join the rest of the Senior Gang in some socialising after the shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, and also attend the Champagne breakfast on Thursday morning. We got a 4-star review in the paper (the highest ever given to an amateur such as our own) which was very exciting for all of us, and I really had a brilliant week. Chris came up on the train on Friday night and stayed over because we had arranged to meet a friend of ours, George, on Saturday morning for brunch and to talk over an expedition the two of them are planning to Gambia next Christmas time. Unfortunately he couldn't stay long enough to see the show, as he had to leave at lunchtime to go to a First Aid training course that evening. After the After-Party on Saturday night, I slept pretty much all day, getting up just for a few hours to do some work on my Classical Art Essay.



The next week was fairly quiet. I had my essay due in on Tuesday 25th, and I saw Kirstin on Wednesday evening. On Thursday night I had to go to choir practise for church on Sunday morning, and I spent most of my free time working on my final Psychology report for the term. Chris arrived late on Friday evening to stay for the weekend so that was really good.



In the flat on Friday night we had a gathering to celebrate St Andrew's Day, although it was 2 days early, but we know that no one comes to parties on a Sunday night! On Saturday, I pretty much finished off my report, while Chris did some uni work as well. On Saturday night, we had a Murder Mystery party which was brilliant fun. We dressed up and all sorts :)



On Sunday morning Chris and I got up super early to get the bus across town to go to another choir practise before Church. It was the first Sunday in advent, so the choir were singing an anthem, which they don't normally do. That afternoon we fell asleep on my parents' sofa watching Shrek, and we had some dinner and then went back to the flat so that Chris could pack for going home on Monday morning.



That's all for November, see the next post for my December antics so far!

Just When Things Were Calming Down...

... Here we go again!!



I'm in the library reading for my next essay, but I thought I would take a little break to catch up with you all :)



My stay in Glasgow, from 31st October to 1st November, for the Scouttish Scouting AGM went very well. On Friday afternoon, Rob, my co-presenter, drove us over to the place in Glasgow where the AGM was being held, so we could practise for the presentation the next morning. It was a long afternoon but eventually we cracked it and we headed back to the hotel with all the other speakers and the crew. We had a lovely dinner and stayed at the bar for some drinks, tumbling into bed at half 12, totally exhausted! It was an early start the next morning as the conference surrounding the actual AGM began at 10 and we had to have another run through before the delegates started arriving! It all went off very well, aside from a little microphone trouble initially. We got treated to lunch as part of the conference, then I had to head off back to Edinburgh on the train by myself. I wasn't bored because I was so tired I slept the whole way!



On Saturday evening, mum picked me up from my flat and took me to the Scout Centre at Bonaly for my training courses. The trainees were invited to dinner first and it was really good - we had a thing called Sussex Chicken - which is basically roast chicken covered with cheese and crushed up crisps! And then there was apple tart and ice cream for desert :) I did one training course on the Saturday night, and a few of us stayed over at the Centre to do more courses in the morning. There were supposed to be two in the morning, finishing at 1 and then another in the afternoon, and my training advisor had wanted me to go to all three, but I had a Gang Show rehearsal on Sunday afternoon so I couldn't stay. I was telling the organiser this, and he said they would see if they could go through the other two modules fast enough that they would get the time to do most of the third one with me before I left so they could sign it off for me, so I was very pleased.



GangShow rehearsal that afternoon was very tiring, so I was glad to go home and crash out!



On Monday night, we took the Cubs on a Ghosts and Ghouls tour in the city centre with a company called the Mercat Cross tours. It began on the Royal Mile with ghoulish stories of hangings and witch-burnings and lots of pooey stories, then we went underground to the vaults of the city underneath South Bridge, which are supposedly haunted. The guide was a very good story-teller and the kids were all convinced they'd seen, felt or heard a ghost, and they all had a very good time :)



On Tuesday I had an exam in Classical Art, which counted for 25% of my grade for that course this semester. I hadn't done as much revision as maybe I could have but I'm pretty sure I did ok, although some of the dates I put down were wrong.



I then spent most of my week writing my Psychology report which was due for the next Tuesday. I got that finished on Friday night and had it printed on Saturday. I had another pretty busy weekend again. On Saturday I went to the cinema with Kirsten to see High School Musical 3, which is FABULOUS! Sunday was Rememberance Sunday, and I went to church and actually stayed through the sermon (last time I was there I got asked to do Sunday School so I left with the kids half way through). It was a bit of a change, having got used to Chris's church's sermons which are never longer than 10 minutes, to listen to Jerry for a whole half an hour! Even so I really enjoyed the service, and it felt good to be back :)



This week has been all caught up with reading for my Classical Art essay. It's not due until the 25th, but I also have another Psychology report, for 1st December, and an Ancient History essay for the 5th! Most of the books I need to read are in the Reserve section of the library, so I can only have them for 3 hours at a time. Which has led to me LIVING in the library just about! I did try staying a bit late at the library, until the Reserve books were available for overnight borrowing, and then I would take them home to read, but Marsailidh, my dear flatmate, just bought the box set of the entire 9 serieses of Friends, and all she and Gale do while they're at home is watch them, and then I get sucked in too! Also, when I study at the flat, I have a tendancy to eat almost constantly, which is very bad for my waistline (I'm actually starting to get a muffin-top, ARG!) so I'm avoiding it at all costs!



Also this week have been the final preparations for the Gang Show, which opens on Tuesday! Rehearsals were on Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, today, tomorrow and then Monday is the dress rehearsal, and on Wednesday we had a costume call as well, so it's been really busy! I also managed to squeeze in a shift at the hospital on Thursday afternoon, after which I came to the library until midnight, and I was here yesterday as well from half 9 in the morning until midnight again, appart from the couple hours I took to go home and drop off some books, and to go the the Gang Show rehearsal.



Today, however, I'm only in from half 10 until 12 noon, because this afternoon I'm going to the cinema again with Kirsten, this time to see Easy Virtue, and then I'm staying at house-home tonight because I miss my mum's cooking and because I'm going to church on Sunday morning. Gang Show on Sunday afternoon is in the theatre, and I am REALLY excited about that :)



I'd better get my head down to work for another half hour or so. I'll be back sometime after Gang Show is over - I won't have any time at all next week :)



Love and Hugs