While my mind isn't coordinating Christmas presents, scheduling blogmas posts, or building up motivation to write a dissertation, I love to indulge in some Christmassy past times. There's nothing better than giving into your guilty pleasures, and pandering to your Christmas needs.

So I've created a wee list, sharing some of the things I love to do throughout December (with lots of links for you to follow) so that you can feel relaxed and festive this season. Especially now that schools and work is ending for the holidays.

December, you're fab. The start of December brings with it lots of festive cheer, and surely even the ol' humbugs can't stop a wee smile on their face when they see the Christmas lights go up and decorations slowly creep over every inch of town. That's not to say there isn't a stocking full of stress that also come with December, but the festive fun can always outweigh the bad - can't it?



A couple of weeks ago I posted all about my favourite things to do in Edinburgh at Christmastime (if you're visiting our capital then have a look at that here). This week its time to see what Aberdeen has to offer. Uni is starting to wind down for most people - although the ever present weight of dissertation is hanging over my head - and schools are beginning to ease up on the homework load and slow down for the holidays. So its time that us Aberdonians, and those lucky enough to visit Aber-dream explore the festive goodies that the city has to offer over this month.

We're officially in summer, and my heart can not contain itself. Despite being a Christmas lover and enthusiast; Summer makes me happy. The sunshine brings out a happier side of everyone, troubles seem to be easier to brush away with an evening in the evening sun and a glass of lets say 'a drink of choice'  in hand, and the flowers bursting into blossom brighten up every garden that I pass. I say this while well aware of the fact that I can count on one hand how many fine days we've had here, but I remain optimistic. I'm also counting down the days till I hop on a flight to the more reliable and warmer climate of Italy.

May has been a somewhat tough month for me - you may have noticed a lack of blog posts on Under The Scottish Rain, which I do apologise for. But you know what? I needed a bit of time off! The first two weeks of May were engulfed in a flurry of stress and panic as I studied for my first set of honours exams. I then ran straight back home to volunteer in Aberdeen Council's Archaeology Department for a few days, and I've found on my few days off that I just want time to relax. Nevertheless I've still been updating on my Instagram - which brings me back to my end of the month round up looking at all the photos that I've shared. More blog posts are currently being written and scheduled, so we'll be back to a more regular posting schedule here in the next few weeks - including a look back at my third year, some favourites and OOTDs.

If that's not enough for you, then be sure to have a look over on my instagram which I try to keep updated every few days, as well as my facebook page - which is still a baby, so please be nice!

1. I started my May with a throwback post to last summer with a photo of a bramble cocktail I had whilst visiting my brother in Leominster. I wrote all about it here - it was a great week and in the midst of exams I couldn't stop thinking back to the relaxing days in the English sunshine with some tasty drinks, food and great company. 
2. I then took my first of many - and I mean many - trips back up North to Aberdeen. Being early for my train, a usual occurrence for me, I noticed the beautiful dome in Edinburgh station and couldn't help sharing a snap of it. 
3. It was then my lil sister's birthday - she's just turned 19 so we celebrated by ordering in a Chinese, having some vino and playing some games. All very chilled, but perfect for a break from exam revision and a lovely day with the family.
4. We were then treated to a little break from the rain and had some sunshine. I took the opportunity - because these are rare in Scotland - to study out in the meadows. There's something about being surrounded by nature and bathing in the sunshine that really makes revision all that more bearable. 
5. My mum and dad celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary this month, so I shared their wedding photo where they are fresh faced and looking beautiful. My parents inspire me so much, and encourage me in every step of my life so sending them a little extra love on their anniversary was called for. After all they're the ones who have made me such a hopeless romantic!
6. Another sunny day in Edinburgh where our beautiful architecture was offset against the blue background.
   
7. I then celebrated the 21st birthdays of two of my gorgeous friends, at none other than Edinburgh Zoo! Of course sneaking off to visit some of the animals was on the cards and we got to see the penguins at penguin rock. Now penguins are some of my favourite animals so seeing them without the usual crowds was incredible - and the venue itself was awesome being set in beautiful grounds and surrounded by all the animals. 
8. And here's a group shot of me with the happy bunch - what's more to say other than they all look beautiful? Oh, maybe that I should always wear my heels or else I'll end up looking like the wee dumpling in the middle. 
9. This snap of a dandelion was a spur of the moment when I noticed that a lot of the river bank was covered in them. The child in me screamed out for me to make a wish and how can I resist? 
   
10. I was invited along to a VIP evening at All Bar One last week, for a night of cocktails and canopes. I think the less I say about the event the better as it was definitely not as advertised - if you're curious have a read of Louise's post about it here. Saying that I did get to make an awesome Aperol Spritz cocktail with peroni  - bring on Italy where I can fully get my aperol fix over summer!
11. Despite what I've said above, I did really like the decor inside All Bar One and have made it my goal in life to have a house that's big enough to have a wall of alcohol that needs a ladder to reach it all.
12. And finally, another shot of some beautiful flowers that I saw on one of my many dog walks around the river. I do love the flowers that come out in summer - it just brightens my mood!

And so another month has ended and a new one is beginning. We're into April, how mad is that!? I don't know about you, but I'm quite looking forward to April. I have a couple of weeks off of uni, where I'll be child minding then I'll have begin the dreaded revision for the oh too soon exams. However, I do love how April is officially Spring. I know March should be the start of Spring, and granted we have had some nice days, but April should hopefully allow me to shed my winter jumpers and maybe stop wearing boots every other day.

As its the end of the first month of the year - I know, how!? - i thought I'd start a little round up post of my instagram pictures from the month! I might actually make this a weekly thing, considering I did promise to do daily instagram posts in my New Years Resolutions post and I have majorly failed that one already, this might encourage me to post more. We can hope, right!

As this week's instalment for my 'Happier and Healthier' series is a little post about one of the things that makes me feel happy, relaxed and refreshed.




Many of you will see over my instagram pictures of beach walks with my little doggy Alfie, or perhaps have seen some blog posts about Aberdeen's beach. Nothing makes me happier than getting the opportunity to walk along the beach. Despite the weather making it less appealing at some points, timing it right can lead to a beautiful walk. Often I'll get up in the morning with my dad, and go on a walk at 8 in the morning. When the sun is coming up, its beautiful seeing the shadows cast across the waves, and often can be the only time that we see the sun that day.



Despite the sand giving your legs a fair work out to walk in, its lovely to walk along the shore line, hoping along the groynes as they appear. I often collect sea glass as I walk, trying to find the most unique fragment or a rare colour.



It makes me happy to hear the waves crash, and the gulls over head. Which is why I love being able to get out of the house and be in this peaceful surroundings. Walks by myself helps to get my head together, and gives me time to think things through. Walks with my mum, dad or sister are always fun, and help me to get my mind off of anything that's worrying me.





Having time away from your work space, or where you feel stressed is important, and I've found that being able to get out of the house and breathing in the fresh air helps to relax me, as well as giving myself some gentle exercise.

 What's your place that you love to go to when you want to relax? I think its important for everyone to have a place that they can walk to and get out of the house and have some fresh air.

Love,
Emily
xxx

Bloglovin | GFC | Twitter | Instagram

Yet ANOTHER trip home brought about ANOTHER dog walk. I know, I know, how often do I go home!? This time it was for a good reason- my brother was back up to Aberdeen and since this was his first visit trip back up in over a year, it only seemed right to pack my overnight bag again and visit him and the fam.

It's no secret that I do love a dog walk each morning when I'm at home, and this past weekend my sister and I took Alfie to Aberdeen Beach for a run around. As horrible as the beach can be on a cold day, when you catch it just right in the morning before the sun is up, it CAN be rather pretty. And although dog walks are predominantly taken up with throwing stones so that Alf can chase them along the sand, we were able to spare a few moments and capture these snippets.

I, myself, am a Scottish born lass- through and through Scottish, and to be more specific an Aberdonian Quine. To say I've travelled around Scotland in the last eighteen years would be an understatement- its a favourite family holiday destination to go on hill walks, and I've recently made the big move from the Granite City to our diverse and enchanting capital Edinburgh.

I was back in Edinburgh from Monday till Wednesday for my first two exams of this semester, which both actually went okay- although if you follow me on twitter you would have probably seen the rambling tweets of a stressed out student.

My trip was very short because it was my little sister's 17th birthday on Thursday. As soon as I got my exam timetable out, I told my parents I'd be getting a train back on the Wednesday night for her birthday, but to keep it a secret. So we had some moods from her on the days before I left, and I acted like I was upset to be missing her birthday, all the while knowing I'd be back again for her.

So I got on the train and arrived back into the familiar Aberdeen station at 10.00 at night. We planned for Holly to say she was picking up her boyfriend, and she walked into the living before I did, saying they were going to her room- then I came round the door and shouted HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her.
She literally jumped off of the sofa then burst into tears, it was so lovely. We hugged a lot and she cried (although she's going to be annoyed that I've said that). But it felt like such a special moment, and shows that she does love me.

On her actual birthday, we got up at 6.45 so that we could open her presents before breakfast. As it was her 17th, her main present was driving lessons from the family. Holly and my present to her was tickets to Go Ape, at Crathes Castle, for Saturday, so that the three of us could spend the morning together having fun, then have lunch at the Crathes Castle cafe.  We had a very lazy day on her birthday. I decided to take the day off of revision, so we went for a dog walk in the morning then started on an afternoon of movies, consisting of Atonement, One Direction: This Is Us, and Sydney White, all of which were Eleanor's choice. It was really fun, and I loved all the movies that she picked, despite being sceptical of Sydney White, and we devoured plenty of sweets while watching them too.

Eleanor opening her presents

Eleanor's present to me for being a good sister

We toasted her birthday at Las Iguanas, a relatively new restaurant in Aberdeen, which served Mexican food. It was absolutely delicious; to start Eleanor and I shared a portion of Nachos and Honey Peri- Peri Chicken Wings, and for mains I had a Crisp Cayenne-coated fried Chicken, Avocado and Aji Tortas with fries. It was so filling and was really lovely food, and the restaurant had a good feel to it- it wasn't too crowded and the staff were all very friendly.

At the restaurant

Waiting to dig in!

We then went home to have birthday cake, which my mum made (as she always does), and enjoy the last few hours of her birthday.

Giving Eleanor her cake

Eleanor with her cake

On saturday, we headed to Go Ape, which was absolutely amazing! I often get quite scared doing things like this- its not the height that I have a problem with, its more the worry that the harness won't work and I'll fall because of that. So although I was nervous to begin with, hugging onto the trees when I had to move on the platforms, and having to talk myself into doing the bigger things, I still loved it. Each section of the course starts with a ladder up to the obstacles, then ends with a long zip wire, which was so much fun; although because we couldn't land on our feet, we found ourselves being pulled along the chip wood on our back, resulting in very muddy clothes. But it was so enjoyable, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who isn't scared of heights, we just had a laugh along the whole course. It took us 2 hours to complete it all- which was probably longer than it should- but we had someone who was terrified in front of us, and we did the huge Tarzan drop twice. The Tarzan drop was the scariest part of the whole course, it involved swinging by the wire into a huge net, but as you began to swing, you dropped so far and I honestly thought I was going to free fall to my death. It doesn't help that you're in charge of your own harness the whole way round and there is no instructor to make sure you've done it correctly before the obstacles. But I was safe and the adrenalin rush from the Tarzan drop and the Zip wires is great, and I could have gone around again!
But we were absolutely starving, so headed to the cafe for a quick lunch, since we had to rush back for our Church's annual Spring Fair. The cafe is really cute, and has a good menu for lunch; both Holly and Eleanor had jacket potatoes with tuna and salad, while I had a big bowl of vegetable broth soup and a bread roll. It was so yummy, just what we needed after all that activity.  The next morning I woke up with very sore abs from having to hold myself up on ropes and nets, as well as aching upper legs from where I almost fell into the splits on the hoop section of the course!

We Passed!

My very muddy back

Thanks for reading,
Love,
Emily
xxx

We've started making it a bit of a habit that my sister, Eleanor, and I will go for a lunch date together when I'm home over the week. I meet Eleanor during her school lunch break, and we'll spend the hour either at Belmont Picture House cafe or Books and Beans. These are both places that we wouldn't usually go for a school lunch, so its a nice treat during the school week for Eleanor.

This time, we decided to go to Books and Beans. The cafe is adorable. The walls are lined with second hand books that you are allowed to take out and read over coffee and you can buy them too. For the first time, I actually bought a book from them- a huge book about Athens in the classical period. I was scoffed at by Eleanor, but that's what I'm studying right now so I thought it would be useful.

We always try to go to this one corner of the book shop, where there are only three tables, so its quieter and enclosed. We also always get a toasted panini from them, which comes along with salad and some crisps. And as there are always so many paninis to pick from, we decided to go for a spicy meatballs panini and a chicken tika and cheddar one, then half it and share them with one another. Since it was another cold day in Aberdeen, we also got a hot chocolate each to go along with it.

I love having these lunches together, it all started with our older sister too, but now that she works, she can only come for weekend lunch dates. But its a perfect opportunity to chat away to each other and feel grown up. Its become some what of a tradition, that I hope continues.

Hot Chocolate

Spicy MeatBall Panini

Chicken Tika and Cheddar Panini

Inside the shop- image source http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/aberdeen/BooksAndBeans/192344

The Shop from the street- image credit http://www.bookstoreguide.org/2009/07/books-and-beans-aberdeen.html

 Outfit of the Day

• Shoes from Primark
• Black Chord Skirt from Primark
• Light Pink Jumper from New Look
• Gold Necklace from Internationale