A Day at the Seaside, Day 48

I have visited Brighton each time I’ve been to England, simply because it is one of my favourite places. Though going back today was just as exciting, I did kind of see it in a different light; lets just say it isn’t the classiest of places. Despite this fact, it is still such a great place to be. It is very beachy (I can only imagine how amazing it would be in the summer), funky and buzzing with people. There are small lanes not far from the sea, packed with shops, cafes and there is the distinct squawk of seagulls wherever you go. I think why I still love it despite the fact that it’s not extremely aesthetic looking is the fact that it has a very beachy feel to it; everything is very colourful (I passed a pink house and was quite amazed) and lively.

I love beaches, walking around in flip-flops and the sound of waves so I am definitely going back to Brighton when the weather gets warm.

Boxing Day in Pirton, Day 46

We visited Pirton today, a small village where my mom and aunt lived when they were young. Ohmygoodness! What an absolutely stunning place! It was all very magical because it is filled with houses and scenery looking as thought they have been plucked from a movie. We had lunch at one of the two pubs in the village and then set out to walk around the whole village. We got to see the cottage they lived in,

my mom’s old school and the beautiful old church made of wood marked 1697!
Villages like Pirton are so surreal to me because they are unlike anything you’d find in Canada. All of the houses are filled with so much character, some of them (like the house my mom used to live in) 300 years old. I loved the fact that everyone was walking around in their wellies, dogs trotting by the side, waving to us as they passed. I loved all the green rolling fields,

the horses and the fact that there was only one store on the high street. I’ve always loved living in a city and have always said that I would never in a million years live in a small town up north so I was quite surprised at how much I loved Pirton.

I fell in love with this cottage the moment I saw it. Didn’t I recently write that I’d be living in Soho in ten years? A nice, cosy cottage surrounded by green rolling hills or a small, funky flat on a cobblestone street five minutes away from Topshop? Decisions, decisions!

A Beautiful British Christmas!, Day 45

Christmas in England was filled with
sunshine,

a morning in our pyjamas
and more sisterly love,

the opening of stockings while sipping on frothy peppermint hot chocolate,

fluffy pancakes made from scratch,

presents that sparkle,
presents to make us look like queens and domestic goddesses,
and presents that we couldn’t quite reach.



family love,

party dresses,
smiles
and trademark pouty faces


delicious food,
and the eating of way to much of the delicious food.



It ended with the lighting of sparklers,
beautiful homemade dessert
and an evening spent watching Hugh Grant on the telly!



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! xx

Christmas Eve, Day 44

Christmas eve was spent eating too much chocolate and mince pies, eating amazing home made dinner in the lounge (with our pjamas on of course), lighting Christmas oranges at the local church, sharing sisterly love, staying up way past a two and five year olds bedtime watching the Polar Express, opening three presents before bed and enjoying the company of family.

A Morning at the Coffee Shop, Day 43

Gingerbread Houses!, Day 42

Between the gingerbread love hearts that the girls decorated for the tree yesterday,
and the gingerbread house waiting to be decorated, the house smelt strongly of Christmas when I woke up this morning.

Ava and Maude decorated the gingerbread house this morning (well, Ava did most of it…Maude was to busy eating the candy).

I actually love gingerbread houses. Despite the fact that they are filled and decorated with pure sugar, they are very Christmasy and this one will most likely be devoured by the new year.

A Canadian Invasion, Day 41

It snowed a mere 2 inches today. London is in hysteria. The weather is headline news and trains are delayed (“Cold weather causes travel disruption across the UK”, a bbc headline reads). It’s laughable really to think that it’s normal to walk around Toronto in a foot of snow but everyone here freaks out when they see a single snowflake. As my dad walked home from the tube station today slipping and sliding on the ice, we both agreed that a Canadian invasion was needed, shovels and salt in hand. No one owns shovels here, and salt to melt the ice seems to be absolutely unheard of. Ah well, it’s nice to see everyone excited (the vendors and garbage collectors on the high street were having a snow ball fight and Ava and Maude built a snowman in the backyard).

Today we took a jaunt to Oxford Street; Liberty was first (beautiful tops for £400 graced my presence…I felt a little depressed to say the least) then Marks and Spencers and John Lewis, Top Shop and then Selfridges where I introduced the Gaters to Lola’s cupcakes (once again, my favourite place to be and favourite food to eat). We also walked around Soho, an area in West London, and I have officially decided that I will be residing there in ten years. It is so stunning. Passed too many Starbucks coffee shops and each time my heart sank to the bottom of my toes when I remembered that I didn’t want to spend my fast deteriorating amount of money on crap coffee.

I found these public washrooms (sorry, toilets) in the middle of the street. They look much more sophisticated than public washrooms in Toronto!

A Trip Down Memory Lane, Day 40

This photo was waiting for me in my inbox this morning from my uncle Andrew. I wish I was still that cool.

A Day Filled with Christmasy Things, Day 39

Cafe 1001, Day 38

Cafe 1001 is a coffee shop and dj bar located on Brick Lane. By far the best cafe I’ve ever been to.

The loft area is where most of the customers gather, sitting on randomly placed worn-in leather sofas or floor cushions, making the whole place feel like one big communal get-together. A friend and I sipped on Baileys and hot chocolate (ohmygod, amazing) in the dimly lit loft; what a cosy and funky place.

With the Gaters arriving today and another snow fall, it’s finally starting to feel like Christmas. Plus it just keeps on getting colder. Bubble baths and tea all the way.

Snow, Snow, Snow!, Day 36

Snow just makes everything feel magical. Maybe that's why I'm eighteen and still get excited about the first snow of the season. I knew I could smell it in the air the other day!

Freezing Cold and Worrying, Day 35

It is freezing cold here, but still no snow. My nose seems to be permanently red.

It's one o'clock in the morning and I'm up worrying (what's new).

I forever feel the need to accomplish things, which is what I wanted to come to London on my year off to do, and I fear that I will allow the next six months to fly by without achieving any of the goals I set for myself. I have started projects (I enlarged two of my photos and need to see if the local art shop will hang them, I'm currently in the process of writing a letter to a literary agent and studying for my driver's licence theory test) but I'm fearful that these things will just all fall through and be left unfinished, despite the fact I've promised myself over and over that I won't let this happen. I'm learning so much though. Just being here, surrounded by beauty and culture, is the best experience ever. All the learning I have done in just a month is an accomplishment in itself I think.

I got into another cab tonight without ACTUALLY knowing if it was a cab as taxis here just look like regular cars (does this not seem like an invitation for dangerous things to occur? I don't understand). Had a minor freak out in the car as the advertisement I continually see on the tube (a picture of a girl screaming with these words below her: "please stop please stop please stop...getting into unlicensed cabs") popped into my head. When we ended up in front of my house, I was so happy and relieved that I tipped him much more than was necessary. He was pretty happy to say the least.

xx

Cake Bakers, Almost Snow and Chanel, Day 33

The cake baker in the coffee shop gave me his number today, which, accompanied by a lovely little note, was scrawled on a napkin. (It’s amazing how words can make things seem so much more magical then they actually are). I was flattered. It must have taken him a lot of courage to do that.


There was actually a little part inside of me that thought it would snow today; I could feel it in the air and I thought I could even smell it, though I guess this was just my unrealistic hope for a white Christmas getting in the way.

The X-Factor winner is going to be announced very shortly. The winner’s first single and song they close the show with is The Climb by Miley Cyrus (though I know a lot of people will cringe when they read this, I’m sorry to say I was genuinely excited when I found this out.) I just lost any respect you may have had for me didn’t I? Ah well.

Just something random I thought I’d share:

I keep on seeing this Chanel advert on the telly and it really intrigues me for some reason! The whole idea of sleeping on a train like this one is very romantic. Do trains like this exist? I’d really like to live on one for a week, travel through Paris and drink wine and eat croissants as beautiful scenery whizzes past my window…sorry I’m getting carried away. One day.

X-Factor and Christmas Decorations, Day 32

It’s the X-Factor finale weekend. Though this probably does not mean anything to anyone outside of Britain, believe me when I say this show is really all I hear anyone talking about. It’s the British version of American Idol, but is taken so much more seriously than American Idol ever was! Samantha and I are watching it right now and I’m even drinking wine (I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous but Prince Harry is in the audience, if that’s any indication of what a big deal this show is).

With the girls not with us this weekend, we took the opportunity to get the house all Christmassy. I can’t wait to see Ava’s reaction tomorrow; she was all excited that the tree was going to be up when she got home, but we’ve gone all out and strung Christmas lights around the banister, above the kitchen sliding doors and hung the stockings in the living room. I do miss Christmas in Toronto (I have some amazing December memories; continual jaunts to Bloor/Starbucks back in 2007 and spending infinite hours at Brenna and Deirdre’s house listening to Christmas music and eating loads of chocolate instantly come to mind). I’m just so happy that Olivia is going to be here soon. I have missed her so much!

xxx

"Every Car Ride it's Only Sad Songs on the Dial", Day 31

I have been here for a little over a month and I am not one bit homesick.

There have been a few instances where I have been certain for a split second that I’ve seen a familiar face from Canada. I cannot quite describe the moment that follows when I realize it is of course no one I know, but it is a bit unsettling. I have been here long enough to recognize people if I go take a walk down the high street or the coffee shop, but I associate their faces with London, not my home in Canada. I often wonder as I’m walking down the street what it would be like to see a friend from Canada here, in this place so far away and disconnected from my home. Maybe this is why I’m not homesick; there is nothing here to remind me of Canada, nothing remotely familiar. Instead, it is exciting and kind of liberating. I recently met a woman who used to live in Canada and went to high school at East York Collegiate, a school five minutes away from my house. The feeling I got when she told me this was pure excitement, a sort of relief even, and it was interesting that a complete stranger was able to act as a source of comfort. I realized afterwards this comfort came from the fact that she was familiarity in all the foreignness around me; she knows my neighbourhood, what it looks like, smells like and feels like.

When I first arrived here, I couldn’t listen to my ipod. It seemed that every song I played held some sort of memory or bought me back to an amazing day or night. It’s amazing that a single song can make my mood shift so suddenly and bring back feelings from a precise point in my life. Although I now welcome some of these songs because I take comfort in the memories they bring me, others still produce a little pang of sadness inside of my heart and have to be changed (I still can't make it through a whole Jacksoul song).

I will be able to drive in two weeks! It’s astounding how different the driving regulations are here…how is it that I can get behind a wheel (with an adult who has years of driving experience beside me of course) before having taken a theory or practical test? Lets hope I don’t destroy Samantha’s car the minute I get behind the wheel.

In exactly a week my parents and sister will be here. I can’t wait!

xx

Day 28

"Think how different it would be if you never took the risk that changed everything."

Another Lunch Time Video, Afternoon 27

Inspiring Photos and an (Almost) Run in with Twiggy, Day 26

Back during the Christmas of 2007, I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Photographic Prize show, a show that inspired me immensely when I was in grade 11 and just starting photography. Portraits were my passion back then, and I was reminded of this when I went to see the 2009 show on Friday. I had decided to go to the National Portrait Gallery with no idea that the show was on, or that Twiggy (!!) was going to be there signing a book composed of photographs documenting her life so I was really excited to say the least.

I got completely lost, as I did in 2007, in all the amazing photographs in the Photographic Prize show. What’s astounding is that the show is composed of photographs taken by young photographers, professional photographers, photography students and even photographers with absolutely no experience, just a remarkable gift. It was incredible that their photos all united together to create an inspiring show, despite all of the photographer’s different levels of experience.

The show reminded me that it was portraits that awakened my passion for photography. Back in grade 11 I began to observe the way I was able to capture faces in true and unaltered honesty. I began to see the ability photography had to enable us to look past the flaws of a subject, things we so often get preoccupied with, and instead see the beauty these imperfections hold. It is these imperfections that I still thrive on when photographing- the abnormal curl of a tree branch, the crinkly lines of an old person’s face or the moles on a body.

I wandered into the Twiggy show, composed as a tribute to her 60th birthday. Photos of her life lined the walls in chronological order and it was amazing to see how she seemed to grow up subtly in each shot. She is absolutely stunningly gorgeous! I began to notice “Meet Twiggy” signs and, looking around, realized that I was standing in the room Twiggy herself had just been standing in! I was disappointed that I just missed her. It would have been amazing to meet her; she is a huge British icon.

I can’t believe it has been almost a month since I arrived here! It has flown by. Before I know it I will be flying back home though I don’t ever want to leave!

Maude in the Morning, Day 25

Harrods, Cupcakes and Chocolate Elephants, Day 22

How is that I seem to fall in love with London more and more each day? Perhaps this is due to the fact that today I passed store fronts covered in floral wallpaper, walked down a street where big huge shiny pink reindeer and heart shaped “love” balloons floated above my head, and ate frilly pink glittery cupcakes that tasted better than anything I’ve ever eaten in my life? Yah, that’s probably it.



A friend and I took a very exciting adventure to Harrods, Regent and Carnaby Street today. When I first saw Harrods, I couldn’t quite believe it. The store takes up a whole block. It reminded me of very much of Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street in Toronto, except much more posh and way, WAY bigger. We ventured into the “food hall” first where we saw rows and rows of chocolate (I almost died) and amazing cakes. We got lost in the maze of furniture on the home décor floor (we saw huge gold beds and small throw pillows for £900…that’s $1,800 for a square of fabric with the FENDI logo on the front…I almost fainted when I saw the price). I fell in love with dresses that were probably worth more than I’ll ever have in my bank account and looked at clothes that didn’t have any price tags on them (the idea is if you are even shopping in Harrods for clothes you can afford anything in the store, therefore price tags are unnecessary). I was exhausted walking out of there! We must have been wandering around in there for nearly two hours and we didn’t even see it all!


We then headed to Carnaby Street which is an extremely funky area (the Christmas decorations and floral store fronts say it all) which is filled with little boutiques on small cobblestone streets. We did a loop around to Oxford Street where we ended the day eating Lola's cupcakes in Selfridges. Lola's is by far my favourite place to be (no exaggeration whatsoever). Not only is Lola my favourite girls name, but the cupcakes are all hand crafted, beautifully decorated and made with natural ingredients. The tables all have little dried rose centrepieces and everything is bright and cheery. It really is the perfect place for a date I have decided. Anyways, enough about cupcakes.

On our way out of Selfridges, we passed a water section. I was looking at all the usual brands of fancy water (Voss, Fiji) when I saw a bottle being sold for £25 (that’s $50 for a bottle of water. I am not joking. It was a “limited edition” jug of water…who in the right mind would pay for that I don’t know). Although apparently that's nothing compared to the giant chocolate elephant that was being sold for £8,000. Would YOU buy a chocolate figurine (that would eventually rot) for $16,000? I don't think I could do it, even if I had that kind of money.