Edinburgh Day One: Food, Food, More Food, and Holyrood Park

After that jet-lagged day in London, we hopped on a plan for a short trip to Edinburgh. I knew the plane had brought us to the right place when, while we were standing in line waiting for a bus to take us into town, we saw a man standing in front of us wearing a kilt in the cold night air.

At around 2 AM, we arrived at our flat (rented through AirBNB). Needless to say, after several days of travel and minimal sleep, we slept quite late the next day. Of course, we did sleep late the entire time we were in Scotland. That midnight sun in the summer makes early to bed early to rise a bit difficult to actually pull off!

Anyway, our first full day involved a late breakfast at McDonalds (it's actually yummier there!), grocery shopping, a full Scottish Breakfast for lunch, hiking the Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park, and walking by Holyrood Palace. We saved Arthur's Seat for another day when we were a bit more rested and awake.

Just a week bite!

Our street for a month!

Tea and Penguins to end the day

Friday Fashion: Break Your Own Rules

I've always believed in breaking fashion rules. In my mind, most fashion rules were created because some influential person decided that because a particular look didn't work for her, it didn't work for anyone. If that's the case, why not break the rules? What's the point in following them if they aren't even relevant to you personally?

Yes, I did take and edit these pictures using my Mac Photo Booth. And yes, I do know that that is so early 2000s! 

That said, I've also always believed in creating your own rules. I think we all do this. We decide what looks good on us, and we what doesn't and make our own list of dos and don'ts accordingly. This strategy works well, except sometimes we hold ourselves to some pretty unnecessary rules made all the more powerful because we created them for ourselves.

Bangs (or a fringe) are one such rule for me. Because I have a high forehead, I was convinced for many years that I couldn't look presentable without a thick fringe covering my monstrous deformity. I've since reconsidered. Don't get me wrong, I still try to style my hair around that high forehead, but I've found there are other ways of working with it than completely hiding it from sight.

I'm not rejecting bangs forever, but, for now, I'm enjoying my time without them. It has a refreshing, clean feel.

What about you? Do you ever break your own rules?

Go Ahead. Contradict Yourself.

It's a cliche phrase, I know, but I really have always had a love/hate relationship with my hair. It's thick. It's healthy. It's an intriguing color. These are all reasons to love it. But some of the very reasons I love it, make it unlovable too. My thick hair isn't perfect and beautiful, like in those Pantene commercials. It's bulky, unruly, and even gives me head and neck aches when it gets too long.

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On top of all that, my hair has the weirdest texture. I'm not being overly self-critical when I say this. It's something I actually never realized until my early 20s when people started reaching out and touching my hair and exclaiming over it. A friend's mom was overjoyed when she met me. It wasn't because she was thrilled by my personality. Within minutes of meeting her, I found out that she'd just never known anyone with hair like hers. She'd finally found company for her misery. So what is this weird texture we shared? Imagine having curly hair without the curls. We get the crazy texture and body without actually getting those lovely curls to compensate. In fact, my hair hates to curl. It persists in having a life of its own.

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I try to make this drawback into an asset by channeling Brigitte Bardot. Oftentimes, this strategy works. Oftentimes, it doesn't. Instead, my hair rebels and decides it prefers to be flat and lifeless. On those days, I try to channel some classy 60s lady with smooth hair and sweet barrettes. That strategy works until days like today when my hair refuses to do anything but exist in a realm all its own where good taste doesn't even exist.

My love/hate relationship partnered with the humidity here in Taipei prompted me to chop off my locks last November. Now, I'm ready to grow them out again. I have a massive board on Pinterest filled with hair inspiration, and I've noticed something interesting. There are two extremes on my board. I have wild and crazy Farrah Fawcett looks alongside coiffed and classy Grace Kelly types. How, I wonder, can these two different icons exist in my one core style?

Perhaps it's the contrariness of my hair that's caused this disparity. I've adapted to its unique needs and developed a bit of style-schizophrenia. I'm more incline to think, though, that it's just part and parcel of me being me. I used to joke that I had multiple psychotic personalities. My husband graciously prefers to call me prismatic. There are days when I'm calm, bookish, and quiet. There are other days when I'd rather run barefoot through the woods and throw caution to the wind. My style reflects this. Sometimes I'm a proper lady with perfectly coiffed hair and a classy outfit. Other days, I'm wild in my long dresses, unkempt hair, and bare feet. Which one of those looks reflects my personality? They both do.

Perhaps it seems shallow for an English grad with a passion for literature, writing, and the fine arts to wax eloquent about personal style when there are so many other important philosophies to discuss. Maybe it is, but it's an interest I don't see ending anytime soon. I believe that, if you let it, your personal style really can reflect you. I also believe that tailoring your personal style to fit a mold such as hipster, normcore, or whatever other movement is trendy, is silly. I think most of us have contradictory elements in our personal style. Following them rather than fighting them is what give us a unique flair.

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When we were first dating, my husband decided to define my personal style. This might sound like a weird thing for new couples to do, but you have to understand that in the area where we lived, the style was largely mainstream and trendy, and I stood out. It took him some time but he decided that, while there might not always seem to be an underlying theme to what I wore, it all worked together for a simple reason--I was the theme.

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Be the theme of your own wardrobe. Be contradictory when the mood strikes. Wear what reflects you, just don't make contradiction the new trendy. Putting together odd styles just because someone told you it exudes individualism isn't cool or even original. It's just plain silly. But more on that some other time. For now . . .

Cheers!

Rachel Kaye

Weekend Reader - 8/14/15

It's been another fun, busy week here in Taipei! With less commitments on my plate this year, I'm actually finding the time to adjust to our home and city while also doing a little blogging! 

Next week is our anniversary. Last year, we were jet-lagged and exhausted. I'm not sure we did anything to celebrate. This year, I want to do better. I'm not sure where to start though. Anyone have any fun, simple anniversary ideas?

Well, without further ado, here are a few posts that intrigued me on the interwebs this past week. 

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• What are your upstairs neighbors really doing? I've watched this video several times already and still can't stop laughing.
• These mystery photos found while thrifting are absolutely lovely! The girl with the blue dress is my new fashion heroine. Can I be her, please?
• I'm loving these Wardrobe Architect posts over at Colette Patterns. Can't wait till I have a sewing machine again!
• Elegant Musings is the first sewing/fashion blog that I started following way back when. I'm so happy to see that she has some recent posts up on her new blog. Congratulations on the European move, Casey!
• I just recently discovered Sew Over It's patterns. Has anyone tried these? The Anderson blouse is quite lovely. 
• I really enjoyed this post by Shaye on feeling beautiful.

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Well, that's all for now. Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

More London Sightseeing

More photos to share from our jet-lagged day in London!

UK Adventures - Getting There and London Sightseeing

I started a blogpost detailing the first leg of our trip to the UK over a month ago. I did my normal routine and never posted it. Here it is. Stay tuned for more details to come!

I'm not usually one for giving a rundown of my daily actions, but I realized that some friends and family might be interested in our doings. So, for their sakes, here it is. To everyone else, I apologize for the boring blogpost. 

Waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport in Taipei

Getting To London

It took us 24 hours just to get to London. First, there was a 2-hour flight to Shanghai and a 4-hour layover. Next, We needed to fly to Paris. That took 12 hours and another 4-hour layover in Paris. Finally, we hopped on British Airways (a beacon of civility and deliciously strong tea) and made the short journey (just over an hour) to London.  

Layover in Paris

London

We set down in London shortly after 11. After making our way through customs and baggage, we jumped on the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross where our hotel, The Alhambra, was located. 

The Alhambra Hotel, by the way, is lovely, small but clean hotel that I would recommend to anyone traveling to London.

The view from our hotel room

After a wardrobe change and an attempt at a quick nap, neither of us could fall asleep, we went out for some rather jetlagged sightseeing. I can't say I remember much of what I saw beyond the fact that it included the Thames, the Millennium Bridge, a lovely little market, and a delicious venison pie. 

The Globe

We ended our first day in London with a play at The Globe, the model of Shakespeare's original theatre. They did a fantastic performance of King John, a little known but culturally relevant play about political machinations and the devastation of power struggles and war. Standing in the groundlings near the stage costs just 5 pounds. It's well worth the experience. You can reach out and touch the stage and the actors even interact with the audience in the groundlings. However, you might want to be operating on a bit more sleep than we were. Standing for 2 or 3 hours can take it's toll even when you are wide awake, let alone after travelling for 24 hours. The hubby's knee was swollen quite badly afterward.

Sadly, we were both so exhausted that we didn't even bother taking pictures.

Seeing the Sights

The next day included a walking tour of the major sights--St. Paul's Cathedral, royal parks, the changing of the guard at Buckingham, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster, countless statues, and many more sights than my tired brain could barely process. The hubby kept taking pictures. By the end, I was making faces instead of smiling for the camera.

Off to Edinburgh

Finally, we jumped back on the Piccadilly line and headed to our red eye for Edinburgh. One flight and two connecting bus rides later and we dragged ourselves into our flat here at 2 am, ready for sleep, sleep, and more sleep. I think it took us about a week to wake up!

Well, that's all for now! Cheers!

Stay tuned for more overdue updates of our UK adventures.