Saturday :: Part 1 - Bathgate

Went to Bathgate Market's Carboot Sale to sell some stuff - clear the loft and, hopefully, buy a digital camera; Olly needed me there to set up - the other traders are like flippin' vultures when you open your boot... Cherrypicking your stuff for goods they can resell. We don't mind selling to them - just hate them swarming us. Annoying.

I picked up two fab CDs while there ::

Snivillisation by Orbital and...

the very best of... Crowded House

I paid £1 each from Janey - she skinned me!!!

I then travelled through to Edinburgh. Had to take a bus as the trains were off for repair work. My iPod battery was low so I read a book :: ((the relevant church)) :: I am loving the casestudies of folk who have planted churches that are relevant to the culture they are in... but not of

I had a cool conversation with a woman who sat beside me. As we were talking she swore then said "Pardon my French" - I didn't understand why she said that until I realised I was carrying the book and wearing my ALOVE top.

Arrived in Edinburgh and hooked up with Kirsty... which I'll cover in the next post.

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Friday...

Met up with Jon G and Kevin Mac for some noodles and fellowship at Wagamama :: its always good to see Jon... he uplifts me and is a great friend. Kev is a pal from Kilmarnock who went to DFL with Olly and I... Its lovely to see someone so young, so dedicated to living out Jesus in his space.

We talked church over chili chicken ramen (Jon & I) and yaki soba (Kev)... We discussed ((DEEP)) and other ideas. Jon shares some of my frustrations with present church and is eager to create something new. I shared with him the newest word in my vocabularly :: planting :: and he got excited - he is so there with us. Its fantastic to know that Olly and I are not alone.

Jon then went and picked up Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis on my recommendation... which was sweet. It is such a good book!

Later on Janey came over with Mog and Lauren - watched Grace deservedly get booted out the BB house and chilled. They were over to come with us the Bathgate Market Carboot Sale.

We are blessed with so many great friends!

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Last weekend...

To celebrate my outlaw's 40th wedding anniversary the whole Taylor family sans our we'ans went to the Ramada Jarvis in Gourock. 40 years, eh? amazing!

We are extremely grateful to Janey and laterly Roscoe for putting us up on the Friday night and looking after Dayna and Miriam while Olly and I got a chance to relax.

Its always fun to see my sister from another mother (and father) Janey... We had a laugh on the Friday night watching Big Brother and chilling. She does, however, snore like Homer Simpson... but hey, everyone has a flaw ^____^ We hooked up with Roscoe on the Saturday before we headed to the hotel.

It was a glorious weekend... perfect for being by the sea.

Gourock is a small town beside the bigger Greenock. It is a lovely seaside place without any tacky, Blackpool like amusements. The view is lovely and there are some cool places on the main street.

FLAVA is a fav of mine :: ((link)) :: want to spend some time there... I have only experienced their fab, and cheap (£1.70), large lattes to-go. They also stock SNAPPLE but this time I didn't have enough change.

We also checked out Original Artists where Olly chose a sweet, bling-bling ring for her birthday... Looks fab! Their stuff is unique and lovely... cool gifts and different jewelry.

I also found some fab music in a charity shop... Robert Miles & Atlantic Ocean (on an old-school dance tip) on CD and a live Marleena Shaw record. Cool!

After checking the shops... we went back to the hotel and chilled... time in the pool, steamroom, sauna and jacuzzi; was just what we needed.

Later on, after the football, we had dinner with the most amazing view over the water. There was a dance later on with some pretty mediocre, appeal-to-the-multitude tunes played - we all enjoyed ourselves and dances as/ when we saw fit.

On the Sunday morning, the we'ans joined us for breakfast... and then a swim. I missed the swim because I had a lack-of-sleep-and-its-too-hot headache, which was a shame.

Afterwards, we headed to Janey's dad's for a barbeque (cremation) and some fellowship in the sun... Fab! Great food and company.

What a great weekend! Still sticks in my memory a week later. Thanks to everyone who made it special.

Happy Father's Day!

Laugh out loud with the boys from ((joy of tech)) on Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to my dad, the UberTOG : Angus, and to James, my outlaw... and thanks to Olly and the girls for beautiful cards and a sweet tee that says::

D.A.D Dominated & Domesticated

Cool!

To those whose fathers are no longer with us... I salute you and will keep you in my thoughts.

Love to all... Can't wait to tell you about yesterday!

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Cool :: PixelGirl's shop redesign

((PixelGirl's shop)) has received a wee freshen up...and is, as usual, stocking some sweet kit. Loving the Lime ((Shuffle Peel)) - it looks like a nice, wee case for my shuffle. Nice.

Check it out...

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Cool :: Star Wars ASCIImation

Thanks to the soos's wee brother :: ((ssoosay.com)) :: for the link to Star Wars Asciimation - its Star Wars in really old school, back in the day ASCII animation. Its cheesy but supersweet.

Check it out...

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Council of War :: Mosaic Podcasts

My second post is now on the ((Council of War)) blog :: I'm bigging up my fav podcasts from Erwin McManus - ((Mosaic Podcasts))

Check it out...

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New Music :: AlpineChic net label

Found another supercool netlabel while having a look on the ((internet archive)) :: ((AlpineChic)) :: Based in Zurich, they represent the Swiss underground electronica scene with some sweet releases by unsigned artists.

This is their first release :: ((High Underground)) :: its a compilation of nine of their artists and although it was released in 2004 (yes, I'm slow on this one) it sounds fresh and vital. "Scary Channel" by [pureape] is a standout piece of electro funk. "You always stayed beyond" by [leutohm] is another standout track - downtempo with super vocoder vocals and waves of synthscapes - reminiscent of AIR on their rubbish album ^___^

Recommend you check this comp out... its superior quality!

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Thought :: Bad coffee in a paper cup is still bad

I hate vending maching coffee with almost as much passion as I hate instant coffee. Tea comes from tea leaves... you can see the tea leaves in the teabag. Coffee comes from beans... not from powder!

What is worse, however, is putting instant coffee in a papercup and pretending it is from a bean - this is fraud in my eyes!

This got me thinking... do we try to package up our lives to look like the real thing?

Do we try to hide our shortcomings by being busy doing what we think the Lord wants us to do? Do we dress up in the clothes and culture of our faith... dress up in the trappings of the religion that surrounds Jesus... but refuse to change what is inside from the instant, frothy, pretend version of the real, authentic thing?

Think about it...

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Inspiration :: Print Liberation

Thanks to ((coolhunting)) for the heads-up on this cool design studio :: ((print liberation)) :: they have a refreshing approach to designing tees with big, bold statements instead of the he bumper sticker-like pitfalls of other message shirts as Cool Hunting put it.

Inspirational... oh and they use American Apparel tees too.