Skiing

Hey guys,

So my family and I went skiing a couple weeks ago. We live pretty close to the mountains so we drove there on a Wednesday after everyone was done working. On Thursday we went into one of the bigger cities around there and I got to see the university there as it is the closest university to where I live that has a veterinary program. We also went shopping that day. From there we drove back to our hotel which was about an hour and a half away. I ended up driving there and as we were getting close and I was exiting the highway I went to change lanes and there was an elk going to cross the road. I went around it and scared it enough so that it would not cross the road. When we looked onto the grassy area that this elk came from we realized there was a whole heard of elk with it.

The next morning we woke up early to go skiing and snowboarding. We got there around 9 or 10 and all did a practice run on the bunny hill before going half way up the mountain a couple times. After a couple runs of half of the mountain we decided to have lunch before continuing. After lunch we went up the whole mountain and split up so my sister and I could do a couple runs where my parents would do one run before we went home. After we were done we went to another hotel that is part of the Fairmont chain to get some hot chocolate before heading home.

The next morning we drove back home. It was fun to go snowboarding again especially since I hadn’t gone in 3 years. It was easier than I thought it would be to come back to it after all that time. Anyways it was’t the most exciting trip but I got some beautiful pictures that I thought I would share with you.

Ashley xx

2015 in review

2015 was an amazing year for me. Just looking back on it I have changed so much and done so much since the beginning of the year. I started 2015 off in Greece with my family which was a lot of fun. My mom, sister, and I also took a day trip to Cardiff, Wales after Greece. After they left I couldn’t wait to go meet them in the Bahamas later in January. After the Bahamas I was back in London for quite a while before I was going to see any of my family again. I started booking courses to fill my time besides volunteering at Brownies. I took several courses: photography, anthropology, psychology, book keeping, comedy of YouTube, and more. I met with my family friends and got to go to discos. I also hung out tons with my cousin in London. February was a bit of a bleak month for me after the excitement of January and going back to London with little to nothing to do. In February I went on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon as well where I made my first real friend since I had gotten to London.

When March rolled around things started to pick up. All of the courses I had chosen started in March. My older cousin who I never see decided to come to London to go to a concert. The three of us cousins met up one day and went for Sunday roast besides going to a market, doing some shopping, sight seeing, and going for drinks. During this time I learnt more about who my one cousin really is as I have only met him a few times and he is about 15 years older than me. Later that month my younger cousin and sister came to visit me. It was my cousin’s first time in Europe so I got to show him around London and when my sister met us we all went to Dublin, Ireland. We all got to hang out with my older cousin, who lives in London, as well. I also took my younger cousin to Windsor before he left. Mid-March I also got a little job dog walking. I got to walk this dog named Pierre 3 days a week. This gave me something more to do making me happier.

April was when things started to slow down a little bit and I decided I wasn’t happy with how things were going and how I was trying to put in effort to make friends and have things happen but I still only had one friend. This is when I decided I was going to move back to Canada at the end of May/beginning of June rather than wait until August. During this whole time (end of 2014 on) I was also helping my cousin with his business. I can’t remember if it was the end of April or early May but I helped him prepare and went with him to film his advert which was fun. The same day I went to my family friend’s house to have dinner and watch a movie. Those full days where I got to see people who I knew cared about me and who I cared about were the days I looked forward to most.

In May my friend and I went to Ascot besides planning a small weekend trip with 2 more of her friends to the Isle of Wight. During this time I also met another friend while taking a class. Her and I got on well and she liked to write and make films. I went over to her flat to make some short silly videos after her and I had gone to a play and after party put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her, I, and a friend of hers went around London one day taking pictures to scout locations for her new film. It was so much fun just spending a day with people like them, who are so creative and friendly. One weekend in May I also got to dog sit Pierre which was fun and filled my days besides going to a craft making class were I got to make creams, scrubs, and lip balm. Later in May my cousin and I spent the morning of my birthday together for breakfast before I had to take off to walk Pierre and go to Brownies. That day in Brownies I was put in charge and was hosting a Canada day to teach the girls about Canada. I was also going to make my promise that day. The weekend after my birthday was the weekend we went to the Isle of Wight. The day before that I had helped my cousin with his business again and got to see his new office. The day of the Isle of Wight trip started early: a bus ride, 3 train rides, and a boat ride away. It was fun though. We explored the whole island and 3 days was enough for the trip. The last day we hung out in Portsmouth and I had gotten sick. By the time I got back home in London I was exhausted and went right to sleep. I had family friends who were my age come down from Scotland for a weekend that I met up with. We went for lunch as well as to a couple of art galleries, one including the National Portrait Gallery. We explored London a bit more, had some warm drinks, and headed home. It was a lot of fun to see them and just get to chat to people my own age who knew my family for a day. My mom came to help me move at the end of May. Before we started the hard work of moving we decided to go to Vienna, Austria for 3 days. I was meant to go on a big Europe trip with friends but that never worked out so my mom said we could go to Austria before we went back to Canada. Vienna was a lot of fun and since I had made a friend in London who was from Austria she had told me everything that I had to see and try. We got to see the Spanish School of Riding which was something on my bucket list. After Austria I got to see everyone one more time before leaving. I got to go to one more film party and get burgers after, get a drink and dessert while overlooking the river in Kingston, have one last Sunday roast and watch cricket in the park, have dinner with family friends from Scotland and England, and have dessert with family friends.

I came home the first week of June thinking that once I came back I would be happy with lots filling my days again. This was not the case though. I was happy to see my family and cousins but I had lost pretty much all of my friends except for one on/off friend in Canada. I was also missing London so much. I was so happy to see my dogs but the lifestyle, independence as well as my cousin and everyone I had met in London I was missing. In June I got to go to a women’s FIFA game, Japan vs Australia, with my dad and two cousins. I also got to see Ed Sheeran and One Direction in concert which was amazing! I love both of them so much it just made my June. I was really waiting for the day in July where I got to go back to the UK even if it was not for very long. June kind of rolled by as I got settled back in and got to go horseback riding a couple times.

When July hit I was so excited to go back to the UK. My dad and I went to the UK because he had a meeting in Cardiff, Wales. We flew into London and stayed just down the road from my old flat. We got to see my cousin for dinner which made me ecstatic to see him again. The next day we went to our family friend’s house for a BBQ and got to have some strawberries and creme as it was around the time of Wimbledon. After the BBQ we were off to Cardiff for 3 days. I was by myself most of the time in Cardiff other than dinner time. I did a lot of shopping and exploring. We met with another friend of my dad’s from university who lives just outside of Cardiff, he hadn’t seen her for over 20 years. She was really nice and we had dinner. After my dad’s meeting was done in Cardiff we drove back to London to catch an early morning flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We decided that since we had gone all the way to Europe we would go somewhere else besides the UK so I chose Croatia. We were there for 3 days before heading back to Canada. While in Croatia we drove to Montenegro. Both places were really lovely.

August was when my whole family went to Orlando, Florida. We went for a week and got to go to Disneyworld, Universal Studios, the Kennedy Space Centre, and more. It was hot but a lot of fun. This was our one summer vacation this year that was all four of us. We also met my cousin and his parents there as our trips overlapped by a couple days.

After all of this travelling I was staying in Canada until Christmas. Things were slow again. I got back in contact with and old friend I hadn’t seen for about 5 years and we met up for coffee one day. During this time I tried to get a job but wasn’t very successful as I didn’t want a basic job, such as grocery store or clothing store, but I wanted something more. I wanted something that I could use to find my interests in for university. I once again did not go to university this year. End of September/early October I ended up volunteering at a veterinary clinic. I am still volunteering there. I love it. Through volunteering there I have learnt that I want to become a veterinarian and I love surgery. I never would have thought that I would love surgery or want this as a career choice as I used to be so squeamish about blood but I have gotten over that completely.

December was when I went to Cancun, Mexico on a family reunion. It was a week long trip where I got to see everybody. It was lovely seeing family who I hadn’t seen for about 2 and a half years again. I was also really happy to see my cousin from London again to update him on how I’ve been and see what he’s been up to. We came home from Mexico on December 31 so I started 2016 back in Canada for the first time in a long time.

I hope 2016 is filled with joy, self-discovery, love, wisdom, and ultimately happiness. I hope you had a great 2015 and have an even better 2016!!!

Cancun, Mexico

Hey guys,

This one is a more recent update. Over Christmas I was in Cancun, Mexico with all of my dad’s side of the family. We were there for a week and it was so much fun!! I love it when all of my cousins get together and we can all just hang out.

During this trip we went to the Isla Mujeres where we rented golf carts and drove around the island. We stopped at a turtle sanctuary, went swimming in the ocean, and played beach volleyball. We had so much fun on the island swimming and everything.

We also went to Chichen Itza as a big group. My mom, sister, and I had been there before but nobody else had so we decided to go again. It was really hot that day and was the last day of our trip. We got to see and tour Chichen Itza as well as go to a water spring and swim in it. The day trip was a lot of fun.

Over the course of the trip we got to play on the beach, swim, relax, eat good food, and just have fun. One of my favourite memories of this trip is the last night. Almost all of us cousins went swimming after dinner and had the whole pool to ourselves. We got to jus float and talk and splash around. It was so much fun and will always have a special place in my heart. All of us cousins got to seadoo as well which was so much fun!! I had never done it before and was scared of tipping over at first but by the end I was speeding along just like everybody else having the time of my life! We got to play games with the whole family at night and all in all it was a super successful trip. I miss it already and I can’t wait to see everybody again especially all of my cousins!

Orlando, Florida

Hey guys,

So this post is really late. I started writing it then lost my post and then just got busy. In August I went to Florida! My whole family went as well as we met my aunt, uncle, and cousin there for a couple days. We were in Orlando for a week and stayed in a hotel were we basically got a huge apartment. It was a great place!

While we were there my sister and I went to Universal Studios as we really wanted to see “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”. We got to see both sides of the Harry Potter section of Universal besides going on the Hogwart’s Express. Honestly after going to the Harry Potter Studio in Watford, England the Universal version was a bit of a disappointment. Since we had already had butter beer in Watford we decided to try the frozen butter beer at Universal, as it was so hot. We ended up only going on two rides besides the Hogwart’s Express. One being the Hogwart’s castle ride, which was really well done, and the other Gringott’s Bank. Both were a lot of fun. After talking to somebody else on one of the rides I was told that the best ride in both sections was the castle. On that ride you get to feel like you are going through the castle as a student as well as experience playing quidditch. It was all a lot of fun but the train was defiantly not something I would recommend trying more than once.

Later in the trip we also went to Disneyworld. I had not been to Disneyworld since I was 2 so this was basically a brand new experience for me. We went with our cousin, aunt, and uncle. We went to the Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and the Magic Kingdom. We spent most of our day in the Animal Kingdom and Epcot as we have been to Disneyland many times before. We went on the safari first as I had heard a lot about it. It was good to see all of the animals and it was a good way for us to stay out of the rain. We then saw the “Lion King” which is a performance they do. We walked around the rest of the Animal Kingdom looking around before heading over to Epcot. In Epcot we went on a bunch of rides. One of these being were you go through time and see how electronics and such have evolved over centuries. We also went on one where you are in a simulator and it makes you feel as if you are flying a rocket ship. As the day went on the queues kept getting longer and longer. My aunt wanted to go on the ride which is an aeroplane simulator and the queue for that was massive. We must have waiting like 2 hours for that ride. We finished off in the Magic Kingdom as my aunt really wanted to go there. We took the train around the park and went on one ride, a small world, and then parted ways. That evening we met with our parents and went out to a really nice dinner at a local restaurant which was amazing!! I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but if I come across it I will link it in this post.

During this trip we also went to Blue Spring National State Park. All 7 of us went and we went swimming for a bit which was a lot of fun. At the park we also saw manatees as well as alligators. There were people paddle boarding there as well as canoeing. During our trip we also went to an orange farm. We went on a tour of this farm and they had animals that either roamed free or had a large fenced in area which was much nicer to see rather than a zoo. We got to feed these animals as well from the truck which was fun. This orange farm also did monster challenges (a muddy obstacle course). They also had a shop were you could buy different little things such as alligator. My dad bought a little bit of alligator to try and we got orange creamsicle ice cream drinks.

On this trip we also went to the Kennedy Space Centre. We went through the whole centre and got to see the different launch pads as well as rockets and more. It was quite amazing to see it all. Its hard to explain everything we saw. I defiantly suggest going to see the Space Centre though.

Overall it was a really great trip. I would defiantly go back to Florida but I would want to see different things again next time. Sorry this post is so late but there will be more travel posts coming soon!

Croatia and Montenegro

Hey guys,

So this kind of is a continuation from my last post on London and Wales. Right after my time in Wales my dad and I went back to London to go to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We were only going to be there for 2 and a half days before heading home. We rented a house in Dubrovnik only about 10 mins away from old town. It was a massive but was split into two so the owner had a place to stay and so did we. There was also a large garden and a church on the property. The first night we were there we went to a lovely restaurant which was right on the sea side and was on a harbour. We got to sit right next to the sea while having dinner and it was really lovely.  I will link the restaurant here. Also you will need a reservation for this restaurant first but I highly recommend trying it out.

 

The next day we went to old town as well as an island which is close by called Lokrum. It was a really pretty island that you can walk around with lots of different things to see. It was only about a 10 min boat ride from Dubrovnik. There was also a festival of some sort going on when we were there. That night there were fireworks in old town as well as music being played. We were also told that there were a lot of diplomats in Dubrovnik at that time. We went into old town that night to go see the fireworks and explore a bit more.

The next day we decided to get a early start and head to Montenegro. We were told that Kotor is the place to go in Montenegro. We drove around the bay area in Montenegro to Kotor and Tivat and back around to Croatia. Crossing from Croatia to Montenegro isn’t as easy as it sounds though. To get into Montenegro you need insurance that will cover your car for Montenegro specifically and not just Croatia. If you do not have this  you need to purchase insurance once you cross the border as there is an insurance company just on the other side of the border. You also need your passport for everybody in the car. Montenegro was different than Croatia but also very pretty in its own way. We went into a small walled in village type area. There were many churches and you could walk up to a fort I think it was. It was defiantly worth the trip though.

The next day was a really early day to head back to the airport. Our flight was really early and we got to the airport before it opened. The airport finally opened about an hour before our flight was meant to take off. We made it onto our flight to Frankfurt though. We had a long lay over in Frankfurt before heading on to our next two flights to Canada. We found it very difficult to find flights that went from Croatia to Canada so we ended up taking three flights to get home. It was a very long travel day but we made it home.

It was a short world wind of a trip but it was fun and I’m glad I got to see Croatia and Montenegro.

Ashley xx.

London and Cardiff

Hey guys,

So my last post was on leaving London but since then I’ve been back. A couple weeks after I left I went back as my dad had a meeting in Cardiff and I was joining him. We flew into London and spent a day and a half there before heading off to Cardiff.

I’ll talk about the London bit of the trip first. So the day we got to London we arrived around 12 and had plans to meet up with my cousin for dinner that evening. We meet him at Tottenham Court Road Station and headed to a place that serves flat iron steak. We each got a steak and shared some sides and it was so good. There was no fat on the steak and it was just so good. I highly suggest if you are in London you go to this place. I think it was actually called Flat Iron Steak. I will put a link in for it. It was super good though and a steak was only £10! Anyways we did that and had dessert there as well which was super good and then said our good byes and headed home for the night. The next day came and we had plans to go to a family friends for a BBQ.  We headed over and had a nice BBQ at their place and had strawberries and creme as it was during the time Wimbledon was on. It was a lovely afternoon before heading to Cardiff. That evening we got to Cardiff and the next bit of our trip began.

 

In Cardiff my dad had meetings the whole time so for the most part I was on my own. I had been to Cardiff once before in January but only for a couple hours and we just saw the castle and walked along the high street. So this was a time for me to truly explore Cardiff and do some shopping along the way. We had three days in Cardiff before heading back to London. Everyday I went down new bits of Cardiff and then met up with my dad for dinner. The first night we went to Cardiff Bay and ate at Nando’s which is always good. My dad had never been to Nando’s before so I decided to take him there. We also explore the bay a bit before heading back which was nice. The next day we met up with a friend of his who he got in contact with after not seeing her for about 20 years I think. We said in Cardiff with her and went to Jamie Oliver’s for dinner which was really good. We then drove her back home as she doesn’t live in Cardiff. This allowed us to see more of Wales which was quite cool as I had only ever been in Cardiff and Newport before. The last night we went to the bay again and had dinner at Strada with a work friend of my dad’s before heading back to London.

In Cardiff I did quite a bit of shopping as I love the shops in the UK and I can’t get the same things in Canada. I have two more travel update type posts to do but I may also do a bit of a haul type post on the stuff I bought in Cardiff.

Anyways I will post more soon as there are two more travel posts to do because I suck at posting as things happen or right after they do. I also have concert type posts I may do if I remember as well. I will post soon and I hope you enjoyed this little update.

Ashley xx.

Vienna, Austria

Hey guys!

Sorry this is so delayed but I’ve been super busy since my last post. So if you can’t tell by the title of this post I went to Austria. About 3 days after the Isle of Wight my mom came to London and later that day we went to Vienna. We had been planning this trip for a little while and I was super excited to go.

We arrived in Vienna and just hung out in our hotel the first night as we had to get up early the next day to explore the city. The first place we went was the Spanish Riding School as we were going to see a performance and go on a tour there the next day. We explored that area before we kept going. I made a friend in London who was actually from Austria so she gave us some hints of good places to see as well as things to try. We then went to the palace and got to go inside of it as well as into five different gardens. We then went to the Prater, which is an amusement park area, and explored for a bit and had dinner around there.

 

The next day we woke up early and headed to the Spanish Riding School and saw the performance which was amazing. We then went on a tour of the yard and stables of the school and got to see all of the horses. After we went shopping on the two high streets in Vienna and then went to try some different foods. We tried Radler, a beer and lemonade mix, as well as this Austrian dessert that my friend told me was like cut up pancakes. I will put a picture below due to my terrible explanation. It was really good though.

Even though we only had 2 days in Vienna it was a lot of fun and I would defiantly go back but maybe for a bit longer. The Spanish Riding School was most defiantly the highlight of this trip for me. I have heard about that school since I was very little and to be able to finally see it in person was just amazing.

I will be posting keeping up posts like this until I catch up to where I am now.

Ashley xx

Isle of Wight

Hey guys,

So last weekend I went to the Isle of Wight!! This was the start to a busy couple weeks again. So on Saturday morning I headed off to meet my friends in Working and my other friend in Guilford to catch the train to go to Portsmouth. With my overpacked bags, as usual, I headed off to go on my first self planned holiday with friends. I had met two of the girls going on the trip once before as they were friends of a friend who was going on the trip with us. That day we booked our accommodations and made plans to go on this trip. The train to Portsmouth was not that long and we were able to catch the earlier ferry to the Isle of Wight and arrive there by 11 am. It was beautiful weather there when we arrived. We stopped to take lots of pictures on the way to the place we were staying as well as grabbing some groceries. It was quite lovely.

After we got settled in the house we were staying in we decided to go out and explore the Isle of Wight. We thought we would walk to the rail station in order to eventually catch the steam rail. We ended up getting lost though in a forest meadow type area. We could see the rail station from the forest area just were not able to get to the station as it was fenced off on the one side we were on. We ended up finding another station and caught a train which lead to the steam rail. We then took the steam rail all the way to the end of the line, which is the southern part of the isle. We then took the steam rail back up and got off at a couple stops before coming back to Ryde, where we were staying.

The next day we got up and went to Needles. We saw walked down to the beach and took the chair lift back up which was very windy but quite pretty. We also went into the glass blowing shop and got some sweets from the sweet shop. Needles is defiantly somewhere I recommend going. Its defiantly a place you want to go on a nice day though so you can enjoy it a bit more.

The last day we spent the morning in Ryde at the beach which was lovely. The rest of the day we spent in Portsmouth at the outlet shopping centre. We also walked around Portsmouth for a little bit before heading back to London. The last day is a bit blurry to me as I ended up getting sick and just felt horrible that day.

All in all though the Isle of Wight was a lot of fun and is defiantly something I will remember. I would totally recommend going as it is just so different from the hustle and bustle of London.

Ashley xx.

Ireland, London, family visiting, and things up to now

Hey guys,

I feel like I haven’t written an actually update type post in a long time but March has been super busy. I will try and be brief when writing an overview of March and the beginning of April.

The beginning of March started off with a book keeping class I took as well as a psychology class, an anthropology class, and a class on CBT. I started walking a dog, called Pierre, three times a week as well. I helped take the girl guides on a trip to the science museum, Hyde Park, and Imperial College. I continued to help my cousin out with a business he is starting up as well as my other cousin and sister came to visit me. My cousin was here for two weeks and my sister for one. While they were both here we took a quick weekend trip to Dublin, Ireland. In Ireland, we were only there for two full days, we went to Cobh, Cork, Blarney, and of course Dublin.

We arrived in Dublin and the next day we took a bus tour to see Cobh, Cork, and Blarney. We walked to a see a beautiful church in Cobh which was at the top of the hill and there was a pier at the bottom of the hill with some Titanic things. We only had two hours in Cobh but it was quite a pretty town and the coloured buildings reminded me of Iceland. We then went to Cork which was bigger than Cobh but was also quite pretty. Cork is reminded me more of towns in England as it had some brick buildings and had a high street with some of the same shops as there are in London. There was a market called the English Market which has tons of things to see. My sister and I got a jam for my mom and my grandma from there. It was something that I think is defiantly unique and something that will always come to mind when I think of Cork. We had about an hour in Cork and then were on our way to Blarney. We were dropped off on the grounds of the Blarney stone house and castle so we went and saw those. We climbed up to the top of the castle (I think it was) and saw the Blarney stone. None of us kissed it but we did get to see it and there was a beautiful view from the top of the castle where the stone is. We then walked along the grounds and saw the house, which was closed. I thought the house looked beautiful though. We started to head back to the entrance of the castle grounds and spotted a waterfall which we stopped to take some pictures of. We then went to the market there which was a huge building that sold a ton of things such as sweaters, trinkets, and home supplies. That night we got back to Dublin and went to Temple Bar and had some dinner before heading back to our hotel to get ready for our next and last day in Ireland.

In Dublin we had a full day of sight seeing and trying different restaurants. We started off our day having breakfast at a place called Lemon Crepes. It was delicious. We then went to try sea salt ice cream at Murphy’s which was super good. We went to St Stephan’s Green, Trinity College grounds, shopped/walked down Grafton Street and O’Connell Street, saw the post office with the bullet holes on O’Connell Street, walked along the Liffey, and went to the Leprechaun museum. We also tried Guinness while we were there. All in all Ireland was great; it was a great break from London and a really nice change of scenery. I defiantly want to go back to Ireland someday and see more of the country. While we were driving the countryside looked beautiful and I defiantly want to see more of the Irish countryside. I also love the Irish accent. I don’t know if it is just because I am now so used to the English accent that it doesn’t phase me anymore and the Irish is just slightly different but I love it.

My cousin’s last day in the UK we went to Windsor. After dropping my sister off at the airport I met him in Windsor. I defiantly felt somewhat lost without my sister here anymore and just alone. I know my cousin was still here but it’s just not the same as having your sister with you. Windsor was a good distraction for me and a way to spend some quality time with him once more before he went back home. We walked to Eaton and back to Windsor to have dinner in a pub that I always go to every time I am in Windsor. We had a good time there and defiantly ended his trip on a high note.

Since my sister and cousin have left I started walking Pierre again after having two weeks off. I also met up with a leader from GirlGuides as I am supposed to run part of the session during the next meeting. I have also met up with a friend twice as well as made a couple new friends through her. I also started another class that is two weeks long and is about comedy as well as YouTube. All the people in the class as well as the instructor are very nice and we all get along pretty well. I met a lady in that class and we were talking about maybe meeting after this class is finished to make a couple videos while I am still in the UK. I also met with my cousin who lives here once more. He came over to my flat and helped me with making sure I do not have anymore bugs come into my flat. I have had some bugs come into my flat as the weather has been quite nice recently and I am terrified of them and just very particular on cleaning after they have touched anything.

This whole time I have also still been doing my 100 Happy Days so I will be posting another update on that soon. I know I seem to always be like oh I’ll post something soon but I never do. I started writing this post about a week ago and just never finished it until now. I am going to try to be better about posting more frequently and not just my 100 Happy Days. I find if I post right after or a couple days after something has happened I can give more detail and know exactly how I felt experiencing something rather than now trying to reflect on things that happened in March and up to now in April.

In other news I have booked a couple other trips that are coming up in May that I am super excited for. I will tell you more about those trips closer to the time that they happen. I am also super excited for May in itself as lots of different things are happening. I have my birthday in May, which will be the my second birthday ever that I will be in the same country and city as my cousin here, my mom will be coming to see me, and I have two different trips planned.

Anyways now I am going to make a promise that I will post more frequently than I have been. I may also do another mini haul type post as when my sister was here I picked up a bunch of different little things. I will think about what types of things I want to post. If you have any suggestions on what type of posts you want to see let me know. Anyways thanks for reading this and I will post something very soon.

Ashley xx.

Year of a Lifetime

Hey guys,

Sorry I have been MIA for so long. March has been super super busy. To catch you up a bit I started a bookkeeping class at the beginning of March that is for 5 weeks as well as a psychology class that is also 5 weeks. I also got a little job walking a dog three times a week. The dog I am walking is a little jack russell who’s name is Pierre. I also went with the girl guide group I am volunteering with to Hyde Park, Imperial College, and the Science museum for them to earn some badges. I think at the end of that trip all of the leaders where more tired than the children. I also went to see “Focus” with my new friend that I made on my trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.

I also tried a Cornish pasty for the first time on Saturday as well as sticky toffee pudding. Since I have been here I have also tried a vegetarian percy pig for the first time as well as a jaffa cake. When I first came to the UK I also tried custard which I really took a liking to. Now that I have tried all of these new things I will be making my cousin try them when he comes to London. With mentioning that I am getting ready for my younger cousin to come to London in about a week time. I am trying now to come up with things I think he will really enjoy seeing and doing in London and the surrounding areas. It is his first time in Europe so I really want him to just experience as much as he can in the two weeks he is here. I also am getting ready for my sister to visit me in about two weeks time as well as get ready to go on a little weekend trip with them to Ireland!!

When my cousin and sister are here I am also looking into going somewhere for a day trip. I am not sure where we would go yet but when I was looking at a Buzzfeed article I was quite interested in New Forest, St Albans, and Canterbury. If you guys have any suggestions on where a good place to go for a day trip is then please let me know. I just want him to see somewhere beautiful outside of London that gives a very British vibe and somewhere that you would never see something like this anywhere else in the world. Also if anybody knows some really cool places in London to go please let me know. I am making a list of things we need to do and see but I am always looking to add to the list.

I think the past couple of days have been the busiest all month so far so I shall give you a brief overview of what has happened. So things really got busy on Friday. I walked Pierre on Friday then went to cousin’s house and ended up there for something like 7 hours I think. He is starting a business and needed some help with just scanning things. So I ended up scanning about four books and quickly learning you need to save them about every 50 scans in case something happens and they all get deleted… I also had to swap phones with his friend which I wasn’t too keen on as my phone is like my life. So we ended up swapping phones and my sim card went in her phone and her’s in mine. The next morning I had to get up at 6:45 to meet my cousin at 8:30 when he was going to start filming a commercial. Well I woke up at 6:45 and then was like I’ll just lie here for 5 minutes with my eyes open and then get up. Then what felt like 5 minutes later my next alarm to leave the house went off! I jumped out of bed and was also supposed to meet a family friend later that day so I checked my email, got ready, and was out the door. When I checked my email though I realized my cousin had asked if I pick him up some notebooks. So I frantically was running around looking for places open that sold notebooks on a Saturday morning and picked some up and was off. I was then a little lost finding the place where he was filming and he wasn’t answering his phone but eventually I got a hold of him and was okay. Later that day I had to go meet a family friend and needed a phone but the reason I swapped phones was because my cousin needed an iPhone 6 which is what I had swapped for so I had to leave the phone with him and he brought me an old phone to use for the day. The phone was okay but I soon realized that the date on it and time was way way off. It said it was June 6th 1980 and was about 6 or 7 hours off. I made it to meet my family friend though even though I was about 10-15 minutes late. Later that night my cousin was supposed to swap the phones back and pop by my house to drop my phone off as on Sunday I have my bookkeeping class and need it for a calculator. I never heard from him though and it was starting to get quite late so I messaged him and he told me he still hadn’t swapped the phones back yet and it was about 11pm. He then asked if he could just drop it off sometime tomorrow so we decided we would meet where my class is and just do a quick change off and I would keep going to my class. So I set my alarm for 8am and woke up the next morning and thought oh it must still be early as my alarm hasn’t gone off yet. Then it hits me… The phone says its 2 am and I check my laptop quickly and its 9am! This is when I was supposed to leave. So once again I book it out the door and make it to the station where my class is by 10 which is when my class starts. Lucky my cousin was there and gave me my phone back right away and when I got there I really hadn’t missed anything. I think they had just listened to an accounting rap song. Ya I didn’t miss much. The point of this though is just to tell you how hectic my last couple of days have been. I was so excited to just have today off and sleep in and stay in my pjs and chill.

When I was with my family friend we went to Pinner and drove around which was quiet nice. I always look at houses like those and just think about what I would have to do with my life to end up with something like that one day. I think it would include a lot of university and a number of years of slaving away at work.

In other news I’ve realized when I sleep with my heat on I have the weirdest dreams. I think I will make a separate blog post on that though. Today I was watching “No Camera’s Allowed” and have a lot of motivation to do something that is a once in a lifetime type thing. I am looking for things in the UK to do and just Europe in general that are once in a lifetime type things so that when I go back to Canada I can say I have done all of these things and have made the absolute most out of my time in London. If you guys know or have any ideas of things I could do or see that would be a once in a lifetime type thing.

Anyways I feel like I have rambled enough for now and I will defiantly be posting quite soon as I have still been doing my 100 Happy Days and need to put up.

Ashley x.