booked.

i'm coming home...tell the world, i'm coming home.

touchdown Toronto: October 1st. I'm beyond excited. It's been too long.

wonderstruck.

Was looking back on my Facebook messages last night and found this one from a university friend of mine. She sent me these completely inspirational words after a brief conversation with her via Facebook chat while I was living in a hostel -- feeling a little bit defeated by the daunting big city of London. Thank you to her for sending these along, without them, I'm not sure if I would still be here. I hope you'll read them and be as inspired as I felt after reading them - no matter where you are in your life. 

Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health and happiness to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something in them. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you!

So fail. Be bad at things. Be embarrassed. Be afraid. Be vulnerable. Go out on a limb or two or twelve, and you will fall & it'll hurt. But the harder you fall, the farther you will rise. The louder you fail, the clearer your future becomes. Failure is a gift, welcome it. There are people who spend their whole lives wondering how they became the people they became, how certain chances passed them by, why they didn't take the road less traveled. Those people aren't you. You have front row seats to your own transformation, and in transforming yourself, you might even transform the world, and it will be electric, & I promise you it will be terrifying. Embrace that; embrace the new person you're becoming. This is your moment. I promise you, it is now, not two minutes from now, not tomorrow, but really now. Own that; know that deep in your bones, and go to sleep every night knowing that, wake up every morning remember that, and then...keep going.

probation.

this is excellent advice. today I had my post-probation review with my boss... a month overdue, but still better then never! I was sick with worry most of last night and didn't sleep very well... I don't know why I was worried, I guess there is something intimidating about sitting down with the boss for an early morning breakfast to talk about what you've accomplished over the last four months and if you're "the right fit" for the company. I know I have been giving work my best since I started back in January, but I couldn't help but worry... I even had a nightmare that I showed up 5 minutes late for my review and he pointed his finger in my face (Donald Trump Style) "You're Fired!"

Lucky for me this was only a bad dream and my review went exactly how I would have wanted it to go. Feeling much better about work (even though I am SWAMPED until the end of May with projects up to my eyeballs). Next time, I will repeat the above saying in my head --- and avoid dreaming about Donald Trump.

there's no place like home.

These past few weeks I have been homesick... more homesick then I tend to get usually. I'm not sure if it is because of the influx of visitors and familiar faces that I have had over the past few weeks, or if its the anti-climax of entering May (a not so exciting month for me). Either way, I've been feeling quite sad.

Now, I won’t say that I haven’t met some amazing people here… I have. People who I consider my family when mine is so far away… people have stood by me through everything and acted in the place of those who are not able to be here.

Recently, I've had my best two girlfriends visiting me and learning about my new life here in London... and London is still more and more like home to me everday... there's no place like home, but London is pretty close.

Before they arrived, I turned to the Londoner and confessed..."I am so worried that because my life has changed so much in the last year since leaving Canada – my friendships would have changed as well." Of course he reassured me, but I think this is what I miss about home the most... the consistency of it all.

Originally I think that was what I was running from, the familiarity of it all just became a bit boring – but I’ve learned that all things change, so do cities, people come into your life and they go. But it's comforting to know that the ones you love are always in your heart... and if you're very lucky, a plane ride away.

not to worry. harry is still single.

The best part about April has been the incredible amount of bank holidays I have been able to enjoy... an extra Friday off due to the nuptials of Prince Wills and his "mrs." Kate Middleton. I've had a mini-obsession with the royal family, since I was a little girl and my grandmother would tell me stories about coronations and weddings and scandal... so I was excited to celebrate my first Royal wedding here in London!

The Royal Wedding was all anyone could talk about for the weeks leading up to the event... The Londoner was even bombarded by phone calls to the pub from top radio stations all across Canada! (I always liked getting these excited stories told to me at the end of the day).

Anyone who knows me knows what a romantic I am and of course, how I felt about the royal wedding was no different then what you would expect. I was GUSHING by the time I actually sat down to watch it. Of course, this being my first royal wedding IN London, I thought about heading into Central London and setting up camp along The Mall or outside the palace - however, when it came down to actually getting out of bed at 5 am to get a spot - I could not be bothered.

Instead, my roommate Danielle and I poured ourselves a "cuppa" and curled up on our couch in our pjs to watch the ceremony unfold (best seats in the house, if you ask me). Kate (or Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge - as the media is now referring to her) was perfect and glowing, of course. And I thought Wills was going to burst with happiness. The television broadcast was able to capture all of the essentials and my favourite part, and probably one that will stick out in my memory forever, is the little moments the two shared in the middle of this incredibly formal ceremony – stolen smiles and whispers, made my heart melt! 

If you didn’t get a chance to tune in and watch (for all you Canadians, I wouldn’t get up at 3am for my OWN wedding) then visit the Hello! Magazine site for extended footage and highlights from the day!

"merci buckets"

My Easter Long Weekend began like the airport scene in Home Alone... you know, the one where Catharine O'Hara and the rest of the McCallister family is running with bags through the airport to catch their plane.

Okay. i wasn't running through an airport...nor was I running in general, but in my mind i was.

The Londoner and I are packing our bags for our first long weekend away as a couple -- and our first long weekend away with my parents. He's met the parents and of course they got along splendidly, but you know these things can always be a little nervewracking.

I turn to the Londoner (who is half asleep after spending 3 nights on the couch, 3 double shifts at the bar and a night out until 5 am - in celebration of my girlfriends visiting from Toronto. I know. he's a keeper, right?)  "Do you have your passport packed?"... silence. I look up at him. "No." He says. It's in Victoria. At his parents.

Okay. Not a complete disaster. But our train is leaving at 11am -- which means we need to add another hour to our journey the next morning to pick it up. So we headed for St. Pancras station with our bags and flowers and my mother's birthday hamper from Fortum & Mason in tow.

Everything was fine in the end. We made it - with time to spare and after a much needed nap on the Eurostar, the Londoner and I made it to Brussels.

I couldn't have asked for better hosts (my parents), who made us feel relaxed from the second we stepped off the train. Note to self: visit Brussels more often!

Obviously, if I went into every detail of the weekend, you would be here for hours reading, but I will sum it up and say that despite being kicked out of one Belgian cafe in the Grand Place (don't worry, the Londoner defended my honour), it was the best weekend I have had in a long time. It was filled with rest, relaxation, sunny and warm weather and of course, it was filled with love.

we're from canada, eh?

april has been an INTENSE month with tons going on. Not only has work been pretty hectic, i've had the Londoners birthday, my two best girlfriends visiting from Toronto, Easter weekend away at the parents and a royal wedding to attend (okay. not attend. but definitely watch).

My two BESTEST best friends visited from Toronto the weeks leading up to Easter. I can’t tell you how good it was to see them. You’d think after almost a year apart it might be awkward, or you might have nothing to talk about… but I can tell you that this wasn’t the case. I am so lucky to have friends like this in my life. I unfortunately had to work the first two days of the week, however my evenings were theirs as we attended Wing Night at the Maple Leaf and late night chats after drinks at the local. Wednesday was my first day off and we spent the day wandering around the Camden Markets (picture Queen Street W on steroids). It’s a really cool place to go when you’ve got the urge to mellow out, enjoy the fresh air, have a pint by the Regent’s Canal and watch the world go by. This is exactly what the three of us did. Really amazing to catch up – plus the weather was amazing! Wednesday night was a big night out. Things got going at the Leaf (where else, of course!) and then moved onto O’Neills. It was the most fun I’ve had in a very long time. Much needed night out. Thursday was mostly a recovery day… the girls had to move their stuff from my place in Ealing to their hotel in Russell Square for a Contiki meeting. Thursday afternoon, we put on our Sunday best and headed to a traditional English Afternoon Tea = thanks to the Londoner, who purchased the afternoon outing for my birthday back in March. We spent the last few hours of our visit catching up on stories from the night before. They are currently traipsing around the UK… somewhere in Ireland now, I believe and set to arrive back in London on Saturday. Thank goodness for that! I don’t know what I am going to do when they go home to Toronto next week...but until then, let's see what shenanigans we can get into!

The girls at afternoon tea in Green Park