I have a stressful week coming up and I might be getting a little grumpy about it. Don’t you hate how the grumps sneak up on you on Sunday evenings? You’re having a perfectly lovely weekend and then *Bam!* you turn into Cranky Pants MacGee for — what you think — is no reason. Then you do a few deep breaths in an attempt to harness your inner zen master because you are starting to feel bad at the crankiness seeping out of your pores and onto innocent bystanders (sorry, Matteo!). And because of said Buddha Breathing, you realize the crankiness is stemming from the anxiety you feel about stressful thing X that is happening this week. And somehow that doesn’t make you feel better because X must be done and there’s no wiggling out of it. Gahhh. Sometimes I hate being a grown-up.

So instead of being zen, I’m going to stare at pictures of chocolate cake, kiss my husbando (instead of throwing a tantrum) and revisit the Feminist Ryan Gosling tumblr.

Hope you guys are Sunday/Monday grumps free, but if you aren’t, I strongly recommend that winning triumvirate of chocolate cake, kisses (to yourself works too — maybe even better than unsuspecting husbands), and a heavy dose of feminist menfolk. To be taken twice daily, or until cranky symptoms subside.

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Dear Cath,

Don’t you love that sign in the door at The Forest Café in Edinburgh? I don’t think it was open yet when you were here in August, but next time we’ll make sure it’s on the to-do list. It’s a very low-key, vegetarian, artsy mecca run by very nice volunteers (who also are low-key, vegetarian, and artsy).

And I can NOT believe you got to meet the Beekman Boys this weekend! I was pretty sure we would be best friends if we ever met: taking trips up to their gorgeous farmhouse for pumpkin and beetroot soup and goat petting.

Much loves and a little something for your Monday/Tuesday mornings!

Via Feminist Ryan Gosling

xoxoxx,

Lar

I mentioned last week that Matt and I are going to stop taking this living-abroad thing for granted, and soak in all the touristy wonders of Edinburgh until our fingers are pruney. So last week was Roslin, this week is the Edinburgh Farmers Market. You might think ho-hum, Lar, we have organic arugula and overpriced broccoli sprouts too. But do you have a castle looming over your tasty veg and gluten-free-dairy-free muffins?

To impress (or annoy?) people with Edinburgh’s beauty, you can pretty much respond with that question to any statement of fact about other places:

You: Of course, we also have H&M (and Starbucks, and Topshop)!

Me: But is it in the shadow of a large medieval fortress?

You: We also have pretty parks and outdoor cafés.

Me: But is it right next to the dramatic looming cliffs of history?!

You: We have beautiful warm weather and it’s sunny more than 10% of the year!

Me: Touché, my friend, touché.

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Dear Cath,

I’m so glad we got to skype yesterday! I feel like I haven’t skype-seen you in forever. Did you guys have fun at the concert?

Do you see those muffins in the pictures? They are made by two ladies who own a company called Organically Yours. The coconut muffins are sooo good and they make deeelicious gluten-free and dairy-free cookies too! Now every Saturday morning I wake up and ask Matteo if we can go get gluten-free muffins — that always has him not leaping out of bed at 8 am on Saturday.

Gluten-free Cookiesly Yours,

Lar

Here we are in our new alley way hood: Fountainbridge! Upon our return from sunny Greece, we were confronted with stuffing our worldly belongings in boxes and moving out of our lovely flat . and then unpacking and living like this:

Fountainbridge is not as hoity toity as our old neighborhood of Bruntsfield, and our new flat is much teenier and has roughly 105% less charm than our old place. But what it doesn’t have in wood floors and fancy plasterwork, it makes up for in. HEAT! We are so roasty toasty in our new hobbit hole (fewer windows, shorter ceilings) that we are giddy with warmth-induced ebullience! I might even sell my radiator-toasted sweat pants of last winter.

There are a few downsides to this flat apart from the peeling ceiling paint and dung-colored carpet (when I said “less charm” I really meant “none”). The worst offender is the extremely large street lamp attached to our building situated right over our bedroom window. I can read in bed at night without turning any lights on:

Ignore my grumblings though — I love a new place to explore! (Sidenote: Edinburgh is so teeny, this neighborhood abuts our old hood which is a ten minute walk away, so by “explore” I mainly mean “eat at new restaurants.”).

Fountainbridge Fun Facts:

1) Sean Connery was born here (I’m not a fan of his misogynistic leanings, but heyho).

2) The first Wellington boot was made in a Fountainbridge factory (and who is not a fan of wellies?).

3) One of Edinburgh’s meat markets used to be here. It’s now the entrance to the financial district:

And there really is goodness in abundance even if we are sleeping under an interrogation lamp:

We’ve already found our favorite local pub: Lock 25. The food is cheap, but delicious and the bar tender is a lovely man with a red beard:

Speaking of delicious foods, our favorite pho place (Vietnam House) is now 10 minutes closer — perfect for late night take-aways (post Ikea furniture making sessions):

And we are a 8 minute walk away from the heart of the city:

Not too shabby, eh? If you guys are interested to see photos of the charmless flat, do let me know. We are crossing our fingers that the letting agency is going to repaint because the current “decor” is “grease spot” in the kitchen and “large scuffs” in the hallway. Hopefully all to be remedied soon.

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Dear Cath,

What do you think of Fountainbridge? I think the neighborhood was “gentrified” in 2009, so it makes sense we avoided it in 2004. The meat market arch hadn’t been refurbished and there weren’t fancy office buildings and new student flats. It’s equivalent to West Side in Atlanta except closer to Tech and further from Star Provisions, if that makes sense. Post “this used to be an empty lot/slums” and pre “now we have overpriced bakeries here.”

Also, let me say it again, I loved your photos from the previous post — you look so beautiful in all the Club Monaco duds and Troy’s directions really worked — who doesn’t want to be that mannequin.

I miss you so very, very much and am staying distracted with flat beautifying so as not to think about it.

Love and Grease Spots,

Lar