Scotland diary & life updates ✨
Mini scrapbook and some private notes on "locking in" for the New Year 🙃
I just got back from one last Christmas trip I took with my family before I become Sadie-Sadie-Married-Lady this year! I spent a few days in London with my fiancé before he headed home to Portugal for Christmas and I met up with my parents. (Shout out to my best friend Sameera for generously letting us stay in her flat, aka Hotel Sameera!)
After Christmas, we headed up to Scotland for a week, which rocked my world. Sharing some snapshots from a very memorable time there, with a little note/diary at the bottom for paid subscribers and how things have been going lately at the very end. ✨
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A palace HATES to see me coming. This time I hit the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Stirling Castle, Edinburgh Castle, and Holyrood Palace. Plans to tackle Linlithgow Castle were unfortunately thwarted by the 3:30PM sunset. From left to right: the Holyrood abbey ruins from the 13th century (had me speechless), Stirling Castle and the view at golden hour from Edinburgh Castle’s cannons.
As a work-from-home-r, it felt awesome to actually dress every day, as though I was going to get outside and see and interact with the world— and boy, did I! I did my part to stimulate the local economy as well. From left to right:
Shopping on Boxing Day in London (Hart bezel earrings, the sweater I snagged, vintage Levi’s, a white tee, and Clarks Wallabees!).
Wearing a barn jacket as it was meant to be worn, doing activities with Hamish, a harris hawk. You know, just a normal day doing falconry. (Similar barn jacket, Barbour vest underneath, vintage Levi’s and trusty Blundstones to stomp through the mud— though God, I wish I were wearing these Le Chameau wellies.)
Enjoying the sumptuousness of the ladies cloak room in the lobby at Gleneagles. (White cotton sweater— actually very on sale!, Uniqlo x JW Anderson jeans, Heattech scrunch socks, J.Crew loafers.)
That very same fateful Boxing Day shop in London again. (Vintage men’s sweater, vintage Levi’s, Clarks Wallabees and a fabulous new cable-knit hood/balaclava I purchased on the spot.)
When in London, one must have madeleines. (One is me.) I got to try the sticky toffee pudding madeleines and roasted vanilla ice cream at Covent Garden restaurant Henri, and then the old faithful classics at St. John in Marylebone. In sum, I have never met a madeleine I won’t eat. (I think real ones will remember when I went to London last January and came home obsessed with baking perfect madeleines to serve warm, a fun dinner party trick! If you are interested, lmk, I learned a lot!)
Unfortunately I became addicted to a Scottish breakfast. (The one on the left is a kid’s portion, thank God, and the one on the far right is definitely more shi-shi— they both do the job when you’ve had too much whiskey the night before and you have a full day outdoors ahead.) Another random observation: gingerbread lattes are divine in the UK. They’re not sweet at all, just perfectly seasoned with warming spices and tons of cinnamon. It is the most ideal way to enjoy hot coffee that I have ever had.
The best penicillin of my life (okay, four of the best penicillins of my life) was consumed at 100 Princes, a new-ish hotel in Edinburgh with a crazy commitment to decor. (Every single room and hallway is wallpapered in a thick tartan fabric.)
I had one of the most spectacular days of my life at Gleneagles and I was aware of how fleeting and special it was as it happened, like the sand in an hourglass slipping quickly through my fingers. If you can ever get yourself there, just do it!
Press play for bagpipes.
The Christmas tree is gone (I can’t talk about how BRUTAL removing it was, there will be pine needles in the cracks of our floor for hundreds of year to come), the decor cleared, and the wreath finally gone. As soon as I came home, I wanted it out! There was nothing I was craving more than a clean, clutter-free week in my home, back in my routine. We’ll eat vegetables, lift weights, and in general be quite boring, I thought. I needed and craved it.
That was a nice idea, if life happened that way. I sort of got my shit rocked though! And in hindsight I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t see it coming, since the signs have all been there since November and December.