100 Happy Days (Days 81-90)

Day 81: Spending the day in Dublin, seeing the sites in Dublin, and trying Guinness

Day 82: Going grocery shopping with my sister and finding mozzarella sticks

Day 83: Going to Windsor and Eaton with my cousin, getting Costa with my sister, getting Shake Away and dinner with my cousin

Day 84: Getting Costa with my cousin, taking a nap, and talking to my mom and sister

Day 85: Working out and talking to my mom and sister

Day 86: Buying flowers, buying an oyster necklace, and getting a caramel cream frappuccino from Starbucks

Day 87: Working out and talking to my cousin and watching White Collar together

Day 88: Making two new friends and seeing another friend, making pancakes, and working out

Day 89: Talking to my mom and sister

Day 90: Doing well in a class I am taking and talking to my mom

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.

100 Happy Days (71-80)

Day 71: Getting two new books and taking some Instagram worthy pictures

Day 72: Walking Pierre and getting fries

Day 73: Going to an anthropology class and getting mint tea and a banana nut muffin from Starbucks

Day 74: My sister arriving in London and going to Nandos

Day 75: Going to the Victoria and Albert museum and having a pasty

Day 76: Going to psychology class, shopping, getting a Five Guy’s burger and a raspberry cheesecake mocha frappuchino

Day 77: Watching “Into the Woods” with my sister and cousin

Day 78: Hanging out with my other cousin, seeing “War Horse”, and climbing the lion in Trafalgar Square

Day 79: Going to Ireland

Day 80: Going to Cobh, Cork, and Blarney

100 Happy Days (61-70)

Day 61: Getting my phone back from my cousin who borrowed it, and making chocolate butterscotch cake

Day 62: Watching “White Collar” with my cousin, and talking to my mom and sister

Day 63: Hearing my cousin won £10000 for his business, and seeing his promo video as well as a video he made to tell everybody he had won

Day 64: Talking to my cousin and going to Brownies

Day 65: Having tortellini for dinner and talking to my mom, sister, dad, and grandma

Day 66: The smell of my new laundry soap (lavender and camomile)

Day 67: Having hash browns and toast with Nutella, banana, and strawberries

Day 68: Going shopping and making blueberry banana buttermilk loaf

Day 69: Making homemade mac and cheese

Day 70: Making s’mores at Brownies

Mini Haul

Hey guys,

I thought I would do something a little bit different today. I am going to do a mini haul type thing. I’ve gotten a few things over the past few weeks in preparation for summer. If you guys like this kind of thing let me know and I can do more like it. I really am making this mini so there will only be a few items here. So lets start!

First thing I got was an orange shirt. I don’t tend to wear a lot of colour especially bright colours so I thought I would give orange a go. This is from New Look and was £7.99.

While I was in the Bahama’s earlier this year I realized I don’t have a lot of swimsuits. I spotted some really nice ones at New Look and picked them up. So the first one I got the top and bottoms. I don’t have one in this colour so I thought it would super cute for summer. The top was £14.99 and the bottoms were  £7.99.

The other swimsuit I got was only the top, as I couldn’t find the bottoms that matched and I liked. This top was £7.99 and I have always wanted a top like this.

The next thing I got was a new bag as my old one broke. I am quite picky when it comes to bags because I know I will have it with me everyday and everywhere I go. My bag also has to fit everything and anything in it. I ended up getting a bag that is quite similar to my old one but has a bit more room in it. It is from Accessorize/Monsoon and was £29.

I have been looking for a neutral eyeshadow that I can wear everywhere for either day or night. I was looking at different YouTube videos as well as reviews and decided to go for the Sleek i-Divine eyeshadow palette in au natural which was £7.99. I absolutely love this palette and will defiantly have to try other palettes from their range.

So that’s it for my mini haul. I have my sister coming to visit me soon and we will probably do some shopping. If you want me to do a haul type thing after that I can, just let me know.

I will be posting a couple other things in the next couple days before my cousin comes to visit me. I will try and post something while he is here but I have to see how much time I have. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this and I’ll post more really soon.

Ashley xx.

100 Happy Days (Day 41-50)

Day 41: Buying tickets to see an Ed Sheeran concert

Day 42: Watching “White Collar” with my cousin

Day 43: Going to Brownies and watching the Brits

Day 44: Meeting Pierre (the dog I am walking), making mash potatoes, and making cookie dough

Day 45: Eating my cookie dough, watching “Beauty and the Geek”

Day 46: Going to Gregg’s and getting a cheese and onion pasty

Day 47: Getting a mango passion fruit juice and a cookie from Starbucks

Day 48: Talking to my mom and grandma

Day 49: Going to a psychology class

Day 50: Walking Pierre and going to Brownies

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.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Hey guys,

I know I haven’t posted anything in a while but I’ve been quite busy. Last weekend I went with a big group of people to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was preparing the night before for this day trip as we had to meet and leave quite early in the morning. We met in London and took a coach to Stratford-upon-Avon which arrived there by about 11 am. I met a couple eau pars and sat next to them on the bus. I quickly made friends with the one eau par and spent the day in Stratford-upon-Avon exploring with her.

When we got to Stratford-upon-Avon the group walked through the city and saw the birth house of Shakespeare, the theatre, a church, and many more iconic sights. The weather wasn’t always in our favour as it would hail on and off but for the most part it was nice weather and so nice to see all of these buildings and landscapes. It was great to get out of London for the day for a change of scenery.

Around 1:30 the group split up for lunch and to have some time our own to explore. During this time my new friend and I went into Shakespeare’s birth house and walked through the house and garden. We were lucky that when we had lunch it was raining but once we were done and ready to go and explore the weather held up for us. We explored the town a bit and went into Shakespeare’s birth house but did not have enough time to see any of the other houses which was somewhat disappointing but we thought that we may just have to come back again to see the rest.

Near the end of our day trip we saw a shop which sold many Harry Potter items. In this shop you were able to send Hogwarts acceptance letters as well as other letters from either Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic. We also spotted a Peter Rabbit store which brought back fond memories.

Around 5 pm we all got back on the bus to London, which was longer than I think leaving London took, my new friend and I sat next to a guy from Spain who we started talking to a bit. Coming back into London we arrived around 8 pm near Piccadilly Circus and the group was then going to go out to the pub. My new friend and I both headed to the tube station though as she had to meet with other friends and I had to be up early the next day to meet with some people. 

I think all in all Stratford-upon-Avon was a great place to visit and has so much history that you need more than a day to explore all of it. I do wish though that we had a car to go out and see more of the houses as only 3 of the 5 (I think) are in walking distance and the others are just outside of Stratford-upon-Avon. It was so lovely to just get out of London for the day and see something completely new that you wouldn’t see otherwise. It was an experience I will never forget and hey I made a new friend out of it.

Ashley xx.

100 Happy Days (21 – 30)

Day 21: Talking to my cousin over FaceTime

Day 22: Going to Brownies and talking to my mom and sister

Day 23: Looking into booking a trip with my sister and cousin

Day 24: Making red velvet pancakes with cream cheese icing 

Day 25: Waking up to an awesome dream

Day 26: Going to Greggs and getting a cheese and onion pasty

Day 27: Making plans to go to a concert with my sister and friend in the summer

Day 28: Talking to my mom, sister, cousin, and uncle

Day 29: Going geocaching with GirlGuides

Day 30: Making fries and mac and cheese for dinner

Travelling

Hey guys,

So this post is going to be a little bit different from my others as it is not really an update on what I have done last week or my 100 Happy Days. I thought I would talk a little about travel. I think its something we all want to do if not now then some day. We all get the travel bug at one point. Recently I have been looking at going to a few different places both for a couple days and for almost a month. I have also been watching a show called “Departure” which has inspired me to see more. Through looking into these different trips I have learned quite a lot.

The first thing I have learnt is that even though everybody says travel in Europe is fairly cheap once you are in Europe it is not. I guess it is cheaper than flying in North America but it still adds up. I am planning 3 different trips right now and all are in Europe but because I do not have a job right now I am left trying to budget my money as best I can. The way I am going about budgeting is probably not the best way to but it was the first thing I thought of and I am still looking into budgeting in a better way. For now I am just not going to buy anything unless I truly need it, like food and my utilities. As I look through different destinations I have found that it is sometimes cheaper to purchase your flight and hotel together though an airline rather than pay for a plane ticket then still need to look for accommodations. I have also learned that although the train seems like a cheaper option it isn’t always. The one truly important thing I have learnt is to SAVE!!!

The next thing I have learnt is to always always clear your cookies. Whether you are just glancing at different locations or have your heart set on somewhere you are always going to check the prices before you book. The more you look at a location or a plane ticket you want the higher the prices are going to go. All airline websites are like that and even websites like SkyScanner do that as well. You can look as much as you want but unless you clear your cookies after you look then next time the prices will be higher.

I have also learnt the importance of a plan. If you want to go anywhere it is probably best to look into activities before you go. Some places you can go and just wing it and others you may need to book in advance. For instance if you want to go to Alhambra in Spain you most definitely need to book that in advance as the lines are huge and they only let so many people in. It is also important to plan not only your activities but your transportation. In my case I am not able to rent a car so I need to plan ahead for when I arrive in a new place. I will be needing a shuttle or a taxi to get to my hotel or hostel or where ever I choose to stay. I will also be needing to book a taxi ahead of time to get me from my house to the airport. If like me you are unable to rent a car then you also want to plan ahead and book a hotel that is near city centre so that you don’t have to take a cab in and out of the city every time you go out. It is also nice to look into the city before hand to look into what you would like to do there whether it need booking or not. For instance maybe there are some hidden gems in the city that you would never have found out otherwise.

Lastly I have found out you can’t plan everything. As much as I would love to have a 100% concrete plan that I stick to there is no way that is possible. Sometimes you just need to let go and wing it and have fun. You can’t always guarantee that everything will go according to plan and as much as you plan and research you also need to allow some leeway.

I’m sure as I continue to look into and book my different trips I will be learning many more tips and tricks when it comes to travelling. If you want to know more about what I learn when planning trips as well as going on them then let me know. I will defiantly tell you about my trips as I go on them and will post pictures.

If you have any other suggestions about travelling around Europe please let me know as they will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ashley xx.