My name is Jo Ann Stougaard. I'm actually from Okinawa, Japan. My great grandma is from Clan Maxwell. I'm very proud of that! My dad moved back to Scotland in 1972, and it was sort of like I got a whole new family. I go a couple times a year and I'm always wearing my Maxwell tartan and pins, and I'm really proud of it.
Usually I'm at my dad's house. He lives in a little village called Bridge of Weir. We drink beer, eat lots of haggis and just hang out. So this time it’s going to be more about exploring. They have some really amazing food. One of my favourite chefs Tom Kitchin, he's French-trained so he uses all his techniques to make this beautiful Scottish seafood and I try to get to one of his restaurants every time I visit. So just this December, my husband Peter and I celebrated 20 years of being married, so what did we do? We went to Scotland!
It was really fun because we did Hogmanay which is Scotland's three-day New Year's Eve celebration. Lots of parties, lots of drinking, lots of great music, lots of good food, and it was just a really fun experience.