New country...same dog

We wondered if moving to Scotland would be difficult for our dog, Deacon.  But apparently, a dog is a dog no matter where they live...

Deacon in his tartan collar, so Scottish! 

Deacon hanging out with Kyle on the sofa/futon/really uncomfortable piece of furniture

A little worn out from his walk? Not sure...

As you can tell, he has trouble sleeping...

and getting comfortable...

Sometimes we like to mess with Deacon...notice his socks

This first video is of Deacon wearing socks around the house. 

The next video is of him behaving very oddly at the park. 

Jet lag and overall stress while traveling took it's toll on the big guy but he adapted pretty quickly.  The biggest change was moving from a suburban neighborhood with parks and forests too living in the middle of a city.  All in all Deacon is thriving as he adapts to life in Edinburgh.

-Kyle & Stacie 

Why is Halloween so great?

Some Halloween Favorites from home!

Top 10 reasons why I love Halloween: 

1. A holiday that revolves around candy- does it actually get any better than that?
2. Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin
3. Another reason to eat caramel apples
4. Going to a Haunted House
5. Picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch
6. Watching Kyle carve a pumpkin (he is quite good)
7. Having the dogs freak out when the doorbell rings...again!
8. Eating Chili with fritos (a Kibiloski (now Sale) family tradition)
9. Seeing all the little kid's costumes when they come to the door
10. Feeling guilty about being glad not that many kids came by- now I can eat the extra candy!! 

Happy Halloween on Friday! To our Halloween Extravaganza friends- we missed you this year!!!

-Stacie 

Football Madness

As you may know, football is king in the UK.  Edinburgh has two teams in the Scottish Premier league- The Hearts of Midlothian and Hibernian, more commonly known as the Hearts and Hibs.  The Hearts and Hibs are fierce rivals and this past weekend was their infamous game.  The Hibs stadium is located on the road we live off of and is mere feet from our "front door".

On Sunday morning, Kyle & I were minding our own business in our flat when we thought we heard a noise.  We both looked outside and didn't see anything so we figured it must be the wind.  Then Deacon perked up, he heard the noise too. It finally got louder and we figured out what it was....chanting.  The football fans were arriving (2 hours early) to begin cheering on their teams.  They sing all kinds of chants and are quite rowdy, as you can probably imagine. Here is the scene from the bar right outside our flat.  The police were even on the scene to make sure no brawls broke out.  

Chanting Fans pre-game

Kyle & I haven't been to a game yet, but we are planning on going in December when my family comes to visit. My brother Justin is a big football fan, so we are going to a game with him! Here is the 'Easter Road stadium'. 

The end result of the game was not as exciting as the pre-game, it was a tie. 

Cheers!

-Stacie 

Our first visitor!

This past weekend we had our very first visitor.  Our good friend Mike came into town.  He was on his way to London for a buisness trip, so he decided to come and stay the weekend with us! We were very excited to have a familiar face around and Deacon was just excited to see someone other than us in the flat! He was beside himself with our visitor, good thing Mike likes dogs! 

Mike had never been to Edinburgh, so we showed him all the local touristy sites.  In Edinburgh there is the Edinburgh Castle, which is at the top of what is called the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile is a road that starts at the Edinburgh Castle and ends at the Palace of Holyrood House (the Queen's residence when visiting Scotland). So, it literally is a royal mile...

Here are Kyle & Mike in front of the Edinburgh Castle

Inside the castle gates

You can actually pay to go inside the castle and go on a tour, but we didn't do that this weekend. We're saving that for our next group of visitors (my family at Christmas).  

The Royal Mile is one of my favorites parts of Edinburgh. It is full of Scottish shops and interesting characters.  The leaves are starting to change too, so it is especially lovely right now. Also, there are lots of alleys off the main road, but here they call them closes.  

A close off the Royal Mile

Changing leaves off the Royal Mile

The other main road through Edinburgh is called Princes Street.  This street is also full of shops and restaurants, but not the touristy kind. This is more for serious shoppers (as I like to consider myself when I have the fundage).  Off Princes Street there is Princes Street Gardens which is located at the foot of the Edinburgh Castle.  We walked around the gardens on Saturday and enjoyed the beautiful views.  

Mike & Kyle in front of Princes Street gardens

It was such a great weekend to spend with a good friend and share our new town with someone! If you want to see all our pictures click here. Thanks for visiting us Mike! Now...who else wants to come visit? 

-Stacie 

Dairy Queen we miss thee...

For those of you who know us very well, you know that Dairy Queen has a special place in our hearts.  Kyle & I started the tradition of going to Dairy Queen every week before we even were married.  We used to go to the Dairy Queen off West Broad Street in Richmond and then go back to Kyle's apartment to watch the latest episode of the O.C. (quality television for those of you who were not faithful OC watchers.  The tradition continued after our move to Seattle and we've even gone to Dairy Queen seperately, while one of us was out of town, and eaten it together over the phone.  Some may call it an obesession, I call it an appreciation of soft-serve and candy! Currently, we are at 5 years of weekly Dairy Queen visits....

However, Dairy Queen has not stretched it ice cream empire outside of the U.S. so we have been forced to look for other means to keep up the tradition.  We've tried a few different options (and they aren't very many) and have landed upon our new Dairy Queen...wait for it....Burger King.  Yes, Burger King is a little better here than back home in that it serves tasty mixed ice cream treats, they even have a flavor of the month (similiar to Dairy Queen for those of you who have had the joy of experiencing the Dairy Queen 'Blizzard of the Month').  We miss you Dairy Queen! 

-Stacie 

B School Update

McEwan Hall (graduation location)

I thought I'd crawl out from under my pile of books, case studies and lecture notes to give a quick update on how business school is going.  The short story is it's both amazing and exhausting.  I'm really enjoying all the subject matter, but it's just a LOT of subject matter!  It's a great fun to be in a lecture theatre with people from 18 different countries and various professional backgrounds.  Also, the Lecturers are great.  I'm starting to lose track of time and date as I hibernate in the b-school.  I commented to one student that I feel like a caterpillar that 's in a business cocoon being transformed into a little butterfly that is ready to be a business leader!

Since the program is 12 months I've already started the job hunt.  Adding to the already heavy school work I've been talking with alumni and local business contacts in both Edinburgh and London to try and get my foot in the door.  It's exciting times and I'm not wishing it away but I'll be ready for some rest come Christmas time!

-Kyle

Random Updates

Well, last week was our first official week of work and school.  We both enjoyed our weeks and are very excited to be back in a routine again! In case you read my last blog post, I did enjoy a deep fried mars bar this weekend! It sounds filthy and I can assure you, it is! But lucky for me, filthy sounding doesn't equal filthy tasting and I quite enjoyed it! 

With Kyle busy with school, we haven't done much sightseeing but there are a few things we've done that I haven't posted yet. Below is a picture of Duddingston Kirk.  Duddingston is a quaint little village about 2 miles outside of Edinburgh.  We walked there about a week ago to check it out. 

Kyle and Deacon in front of Duddingston Kirk

This next picture is of the walk towards Duddingston.  It's nice to get away from the city and see a little green!

Walk to Duddingston

We also visited the Royal Botanical Gardens.  They are free to walk through (which was the main draw for me).  Here's me in front of the ivy wall. 

If you want to see more pictures click here.  

-Stacie