OFF to NYC

So... I am OFF TO NEW YORK, bitchezzz

I will take loads of pictures and probably post some of them while I am still there.. If not it just means I am having way too much fun.

See you in 3 weeks!

my travel preparations {New York tips}

1. What are we gonna do when we are there?  

Here is my collection of New York guides from other bloggers and I have yet to figure out how to fit in all these amazing restaurant tips without spending all my money within the first days. Any other tips?

✈ Les Mads
✈ Anne loves Food
✈ WishWishWish
✈ Niotillfem
✈ Oh the happy sinner
✈ A CUP OF JO

2. Spotify playlist

Our road trip playlist, full of songs from our last trip, weird old songs and amazing new ones. Cannot wait to listen to them in the car!

3. Plane entertainment

via x

I am flying to New York with Virgin Airlines and I am so excited because I love their on board entertainment system! Nevertheless there are times when I just can't stare at the screen anymore, so I need to sort out my Kindle with some new summer readings.

3..2..1.. Fringe over and out.

3 more days and then the 2013 Fringe is already over! As always, it felt weirdly fast and slow at the same time. As a newbie to the whole Fringe thing I also feel like I didn't watch any shows at all, I should have done way more exploring and should have prepared more lunches instead of spending all that money  on sandwiches (haha). But oh well, next year is gonna be my year!!!! I definately enjoyed it and I think that's all that matters for now. SO here you go, a little Assembly Festival picture bomb-

A-ca-scuse me?

Ooooh, a cappella singing. I really don't know what it is I like so much about it- maybe the fact that you can see it coming together right in front of your eyes. You know there is nothing else going on, just them singing. No machines messing with their voices, no fakeness. It's all real.

I loved 'Pitch Perfect' so I knew I had to see some a cappella live action at the Fringe. 'Out of the Blue' was a show that I was able to see for free and I am so glad I went! Those boys actually got really far in 'Britain's Got Talent' and that is no surprise, they are reaaaally good!

So I googled a little bit and found a video of their audition-

And also my favorite bit from Pitch Perfect:

Military Tattoo {Edinburgh 2013}

Every tourist in Edinburgh knows about the Military Tattoo, I suppose. It's on 50% of the postcards (for christs sake) and so far more than 12 million people have seen it. It's on every night in August, sometimes even twice a night and in the last 63 years not a single performance has ever been cancelled. There are performances from various countries, so it's not just hours of pure bagpiping.

Julia and I bought tickets in July (it's selling out quite quickly) and went to see it two days ago.
I went in with not that many expectations and I ended up really liking it. I am not much into that whole war remembering thing or motorbike stunts, but other than that the performances were so impressive! A marching band from New Zealand played Gangnam Style, they projected pictures onto the castle (my favorite) and loads of bagpiping, which I really enjoy. Our tickets were among the cheapest (26£) and our seats were just fine. It is clearly a very touristy event but for that night it was alright. Julia took amazing pictures and I am just waiting so I can show them to you!

And this is my goose bumps moment from the finale- I reuploaded it from Instagram, so hopefully everyone can see it. Just a couple seconds of Scottish magic. 

When there is only enough time for one episode...

It has become a bad habit, but when you live by yourself, dinner time is just not that fun. So I just watch an episode of something, anything. I don't really like rewatching stuff so I always look for new stuff. And I am on a test period for Netflix right now, which has been so good!
"Orange is the new black" is a new series with just one season so far. And oh man, it is SO GOOD. The series has loads of different characters, but there is no way of confusing them (which I sometimes hate when there are so many) because they are all so unique and special.
Basically it's about this white chick going to jail for a year because of something she has done yeeears ago. It has an amazing cast, almost all female, it plays with all the prison cliches you know, turns them around and you end up liking characters you never thought you would. They ended up in jail because of bad choices. And we all make bad choices at some point, don't we?

I am so so excited for the second season as the first season finale was CRAZY!!!!

Packing for New York

 

Ooooh, the idea of a place that is hot and sunny, a place where I don't have to work and serve customers... It's quite hard to imagine at the moment. Even harder to imagine that I will at this place in only two weeks! 

In a way the Fringe is what I imagined: The city is FULL of tourists and people in costumes, work is exhausting and stressful, the weather is good and bad and confusing, the days are just flying by... we are already halfway through the festival, what is even HAPPENING?

I am so so so excited for New York, I cannot believe I am actually going. That I am going to be back at the house, see the cat again, the kids (haha love the order I am mentioning them in), the city I love so much and do whatever we want. Oohh seems like a dream!

So I bought a new bikini, an Iphone charger for our road trip and an underwater case for it as well. 

Tanning oil and flipflops are a must, so excited to be able to wear them eeevery day.

 

 

Roller Derby {Auld Reekie Roller Girls}

I hope everyone has seen  'Whip It'? It's this amazing film directed by Drew Barrymore (and starring Ellen Page) about Roller Derby (read more about the sport here). And the best thing is (and I only realised this yesterday, as I rewatched the film) it takes place in Austin, Texas. How cool is that?!

Anyway, ever since I watched the film couple years back I thought this was such a fascinating sport. I kind of forgot about it but when I saw that there is a Roller Derby match here in Edinburgh during the Fringe, I had to go. There is a huge Roller Derby scene here in Edinburgh, who would have thought? I loved watching the game and even kind of understood the rules. In Europe they play on flat tracks, so not like in Whip It. It was really fun to watch though, so if you are in Edinburgh, go and see them on the 24h August!

All the pretty things.

 

There are days when I don't want to be a 'material girl', I try to not care about 'things'. But then there are days like today, where I get this special gift in the mail (thank you Steffi!!!), order loads of bikinis from Asos or just dream of all the pretty things I am going to buy in New York- and it seriously makes my day! 

So tomorrow will hopefully be better and the sort of day where I don't need things to make me feel happy- but people and moments.

Puppet up! {1 week Fringe- check}

Puppet Up! is actually not what you think. This is a show for adults, no kids allowed. So it's a puppet show for adults, produced by one of the Hensons', the creator of the Muppets!
The show is really fascinating, as you get to see the puppets on the screen like you would on TV but then you also see the people performing with the puppets. Switching between the two of them and watching how the puppets come alive is incredible!
It is improv, so every show is unique in a way. People shout out where they want the puppets to be, what they want them to do.. and they just go with it. There are insanely talented people on the stage, it's very fun to watch them mess up as well as come up with the funniest shit within a couple of seconds. I really wanna go again as I cannot imagine it getting any less fun the next time!

 In terms of my job- I really enjoy it and I am so happy about it! Going to work is not yet associated with any horrible feelings, wooho!I feel like I need to invest more of my free time in to watching shows, but the idea of sleeping in is more attractive most of the time. Oh well.

3 reviews in a flash {comedy & food tips}

Yesterday was my first day off (after only one day of working, which means I got two days off left for the next... 25 days- fun times). Anyway, after taking loads of time to do boring housewife stuff, Julia and I headed down to Old Town, check out the Royal Mile and the street performers.

We then tried to find a restaurant that wasn't occupied by loads of tourists, so we found the Spanish restaurant Iggs & Barioja. We went for the tapas bar and ordered several dishes to share as well as red wine with lemonade. Ooooh, it was amazing! The prices were absolutely fine and sharing everything was so much fun. The couple on the table next to us ordered literally everything and it all looked super good- they also have a unlimited food offer for 20pounds. We are definately gonna check that out!

We then headed to the City Cafe for some dessert (Honey and Hazelnut Parfait, yum yum) and a drink. It looks like a proper American diner, cute booths with red leather seats, breakfast all day and a proper menu full of burgers and even a burger challenge. Man vs Food anyone?

We then headed down to the basement of the City Cafe because Anil Desai's Fringe show was on. It was free but among the Fringe madness this show hasn't gotten a lot of hype yet, so there were only four other people there. And us. I have never really reviewed a comedy show, so all I can say is: it waas funny and he didn't make the audience feel awkward. Awkwardness is probably my biggest "fear", so to say. Silence and weird jokes within a small room just reminds me of a seriously dodgy comedy stand up show in a Manhattan basement. So this was nothing like it and we really enjoyed it- the best part was probably the impressions of famous movie stars. Hilarious and so spot on!
If someone is in town for the Fringe, definitely go and check him out, he deserves more than six people in the audience.

pictures from x, x, x

My job at the Fringe {update}

Okay, so my first 8 hour shift of my new job is done and I really like the job. It's not like in the call centre where you have to keep calling people the whole time. Because that's seriously all you have to do there. Here we can chat, get to see people and learn so much new stuff- who knew that Ireland doesn't do postcodes? I didn't.

Anyway, I am super happy with the people I work with and I am very excited to be around them for all of August. I have no clue about any of the British comedy or theatre people performing at the Fringe, so it's good to be with people who do have a clue. Or get inspired by people telling me that they are going to see over 100 shows in August. o m g
One show I really do wanna see is Drum Struck. They give everyone in the audience drums so it's not just people performing, but you actually get to take part in it. Man, I am sold.

pictures partly taken from Instagram: x,x,x