Tuesday, January 31, 2012

119. An attempt, though slightly failed.

Today I learned something important, that makes me appreciate other bloggers much more. It is really freaking difficult to take OOTD with a point-&-shoot camera!!! I fumbled with it and had to deal with crappy light and not getting the pictures I wanted before I decided to give up. I miss my Nikon, with its tripod and remote and ease of use. *sigh*

Something I love about England? The love of big giant scarves and big giant cups of tea. I really really love the tea part. Really. And I keep buying scarves, the bigger the better, only to realize so many English girls are wearing chunkier brighter and more awesome scarves than me. I take this as a challenge of course and will update you all on my progress.

Tesco haul <3
cowled all up. groceries get heavier the longer you carry them, by the way.
road that's not actually that long, below left.



sweater - Jacob / tank - Bluenotes / jeans - old as the hills, from Bluenotes / scarf - Accessorize / necklace - gift from bestie

I didn't fare out too bad I suppose. Love this scarf, found at the Monsoon affiliate Accessorize. There's so many sales on right that it's sending me into overdrive. I love shopping, so when I return from Madrid expect many more posts of what I bought, even if there's no posts of me actually wearing it. Lol. Can't wait to shop there and actually see some of Spain!

I'm getting good use out of my sweaters. Very casual since I'm just lounging around most of the time. Still layering up on sweaters since it's not warm here, but it's so much nicer than any weather Newfoundland is having right now. ANY weather. There's no snow, there's green grass, and I don't have to wear a winter jacket that makes me look like a marshmallow. Case closed, England rocks.

Til next time!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Day 23: The Studying Begins

After last weekend of the partying and fun, reality comes back. I haven't got a midterm to study for, unlike some of the group, but there's still homework to be done. Seriously have to get my butt in gear to get things out of the way before next weekend. Two assignments and two courses to get readings done for, but I still have a little time to play too lol.

So, recap of the week. I wasn't feeling all that great on Mon/Tues/Wed so there was lots of lazing around. Needed a bit more sleep than I was able to get and just eating too much which never agrees with me. I did manage to catch up on all my TV shows because of this though. Glee and Grey's and Big Bang, and a couple of movies. I was really happy to find one site in particular, Project Free TV, that streams lots of links for the shows. I have lots of patience with these since I haven't had a chance to catch up on anything. I'm rewatching One Tree Hill from where I last stopped watching, which was about last year at this time. I didn't have the channel, it started to suck a bit, but at least now I have something to do when I don't have school work! Or in this case lately, more where I don't want to do it.

Thursday's journey was off to UH again. I think I'll like the school after seeing what our classes are going to be like. International HRM will be so much more interesting in an international setting. The profs and tutors, which are like assistant profs here, seem so nice. I'm actually really really looking forward to it. If only we could get a chartered bus on the way back from Hatfield, I'd be perfect.

Spent most of Friday and yesterday doing homework, again. Trying to catch up on readings, by borrowing my roommates textbook, since I'm still waiting on one to arrive from Canada. Yeah, that's fun. I ventured into the Town Centre and went shopping around. Found a couple of really nice pieces but nothing that screamed take me home! Well, a couple of shirts kind of hit on me, but they were cheap so I decided to let them in my closet. Primark is like F21 but with more stuff, if that's possible. Haven't worn either shirt yet but I quite like them so far.

reminds me of the Village mall...but British :P


My two reject pieces from Monsoon. The dress was so perfect, but the belt was missing and zipper was broken and needed to be replaced. Boo hiss on top of that. The coat was also adorable, but slightly too short in the arms and more dressy than I need. It came to about knee length, flared from the waist. Such pretty things in there, but expensive. I'll have a dress there before I leave. 

Here's a couple more pictures I managed to take, I'm majorly failing at outfit and all other pics, but I'm working on.  
finally found nail polish!!! Coral by Barry M, quite awesome
mini-haul. bags stuffed in bags, plus bakery goodies :)
ridiculous glare on my glasses, but a view of the desk area of my room.
Yeah that's it for now. Gotta go see what's on the go for supper, most likely nothing so it'll probably be pizza! And ice cream, Tesco run in my near future!

Til next time!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

118. Pretty Things.

As a lover of all things sparkly and glittery, the latest blog-hop hosted by Gussy SewsMatchstick MollyMuch Love, Illy and The Letter 4 appeals to me like no other. I love seeing all of the pretty things from every participant. And so...much...glitter. I just keep writing "so prettyyyy" on everyone's posts! Original, I know. So for the link-up, here's some of the prettiest things that are on my mind this week! 

1 (left) missing my long hair
2 (top right) dreaming of sequins
3 (bottom right) needing more sweaters in my life


destinations for the next month!
4 (top left) london, which I've yet to fully explore
5 (top right) the english countryside
6 (bottom left) edinburgh, where I'm traveling with my Mom in February!
7 (bottom right) sunny southern Spain
So there's some of the pretty in my life, and my mind, right now! I'm looking at all kinds of trips for our midterm break, which is quite later than most. Excited to be preparing myself for my first trip to Spain next week. 

Head on over to the blog-hop, through the links above, to check out everyone's posts! The icon for the posting won't show up for me, but oh well!



Til next time!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Day 16: It's the Weekend

It was the weekend, at least. And you know what that means right? Partying and exploring the night life of the area. This is the first weekend that everyone has been here since we all arrived. The real weekend is almost over, somewhat thankfully, though I still have tomorrow to recover since mine is always a 4 day weekend. It's been an interesting one to say the least.

The reason for everyone being stuck here is quite unfortunate. For one of the classes we're taking, we're doing an exchange at a local university in Hatfield. The place seems alright, but it's kind of out of the way. There were two days of orientation for the "international students". It's weird realizing that we're international, since we're just coming from Canada. Lots of talking about the residences and living on campus and around the area, none of which was relevant to us since we're in a special position with the exchange. Everyone had to stay away. We had two days of trekking to Hatfield, which is about 45 by chartered bus and twice that time on public transit. The public transit we go on by ourselves, having to make our own way back due to the schedules of our classes and modules, as they're called in Britain. Hoping that doesn't last and we can convince the coordinators to have a chartered bus on the way back too. I didn't enjoy feeling like I was going to throw up. Roundabouts plus buses plus drivers who can't really drive makes for a very upset stomach on the way home.

Apart from the dull days, it's been an interesting week. Classes at the campus here were short again and I managed to get an extra day off because I'm not doing one of the courses. It was lovely to sleep in and then start in on homework, knowing I don't have to rush myself.

Friday night was the exploring the night life of Harlow. I hadn't been in the mood to drink, was just feeling a little homesick but the girls convinced me to join in. We all socialized here at the campus then headed to one of the few clubs in Harlow Town. The club was very similar to home, being that you have to ignore the creeps and just try to have fun with friends. Music wasn't the best so we're learning what English dance clubs consider appropriate music. There were some mixed reactions about things, some people really enjoyed it and others didn't. It depends on how you party. Arrived back to campus around 3:30AM from what I recall, and I slept shortly after. Some commotion about who was where and doing what with who but everyone made it safe and sound.

Saturday morning was harsh, just because living in a residence means the walls aren't quite soundproof. I lazed around most of the morning before myself and three of the girls headed into London for the night. It wasn't planned out very well in hindsight but it was funny anyways. We walked around aimlessly for a long time, trying to find a hostel in a suggested area, but couldn't find any. All hope was almost lost when we finally got in contact with a couple of the guys from the group. We found their hostel, the Generator, and went shopping for a while before supper. As many stores as there were, I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. Kind of sad really, but I'm hoping to go into London again soon to really shop. The 7 of us met up after that and the fun began. We ended up at 3 different bars, going to another after each closed. My first time truly bar-hopping, in London no less, and it was an experience that I actually quite enjoyed. Another late night, I think we were back by 4AM or around then. Not something I think I could do frequently but it was definitely fun and I was in a great group for this kind of night.

The plan for today was to sight-see and do the tourist-y things, but another of the girls and I decided to head back to campus to get ahead on some homework. That didn't quite happen for me, since I forgot my key-card in the room and had to wait for the night security guard to let me in. I've been lazing and getting back in touch with people since. No pictures, unfortunately, since we didn't really end up doing much.

Not bad for my second week, is it? Off to catch up on some TV, I've been lacking in that department.

Til next time!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

117. Another overdue outfit.

I'm noticing how quickly my fashion blogging skills have gone downhill. I'm still getting dressed of course, but it's mediocre at best. No thoughtfully picking out my outfits and accessories anymore people. It's school and it's in a foreign country. Not leaving on leggings and slippers all day is the best I can do.

I was looking through to see if I had actually gone like three weeks without taking an outfit photo, and the answer is a resounding yes. The last reasonable outfit I wore, and didn't actually even take actual photos of, was on Boxing Day. Yeah, that's right. Boxing Day. No shopping for me like most North Americans, just eating and drinking in a town with no cell phone service. The equivalent to New Years everywhere else basically. We partied at Boyfriend's place and had quite a lot of fun. I broke out the sequins just to spice things up. Casual but so comfortable.

 cardigan - Gap / tee - F21 / skirt - Rio / black booties from Naturalizer (not pictured)

I posed weird, so I think I look weird, but I like the outfit anyways. I wanna get back to posting outfits, but I keep rewearing the same things. Barely changing anything actually, my outfit formula is pretty basic. I'm hoping to get a little more dressed up in the next couple of weeks, we're around the town/London due to school constrictions. I'll actually have to work on this whole remixing thing. That will happen once I do laundry, which I still haven't. I'm putting it off as long as I can, which is working quite well. Been here since the 7th, spent 4 days in Denmark and I still have clothes to wear. Lots actually, though the socks are running a little low.

Off to book trips soon hopefully. I've got my trip to Madrid planned but not booked. Have to figure out time constraints with one of my classes, see if I can make it work to fly out on a Thursday night instead of Friday. Here's hoping it works!

Til next time!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Days 7-10: Copenhagen: Part 2

Part 2 of my trip to Copenhagen! (I promise, it got better)

Being that I was in a craptacular mood on Friday, I needed my sleep desperately. A nice clean set of sheets on the hostel bed and the ability to sleep for about 9 hours seriously upped my mood. Saturday started with a giant croissant cinnamon bun thing for breakfast, which helped too. I'm a fan of my carbs, especially when they're paired with lots of sugar. We started out just as cold, but I layered up ridiculously and it was such a good idea. The first stop was the Round Tower, an iconic landmark in Copenhagen. It's actually 680m+ of a spiral walkway around the core. I got a little dizzy but nothing that sitting for a second didn't take care of haha. This was the view of the city from the top, absolutely beautiful. Click through for more!



Monday, January 16, 2012

Days 7-10: Copenhagen: Part 1

So, Copenhagen. The capital of Denmark, home of the Danish Monarchy, and really friggin' cold. We were all around last week trying to figure out where to go for the weekend, when one of the girls asked what we thought of Copenhagen. Turns out that city was chosen because it had the cheapest flights, but nonetheless it turned out to be a good choice.

Friday morning was death, our flight was out at 7 something, but we had to catch the bus to Stanstead early. 4:08am early. I think I got two and a half hours of sleep, but that might be pushing it. I was too nervous and had too much adrenaline pumping to sleep any longer once 2:30 hit, since I knew I had to be ready in an hour. Don't ask me why, I was packed and all I had to do was eat but regardless, I got up. We had loads of time once we got to the airport but it was much safer to be there and bored than rushing and not make it. Everyone slept on the plane, myself included. The trip in to the city was by train as are many things in Europe.

Attempting to figure out the map of the city.
empty train except for us

We got to Copenhagen early, too early to check into the hostels, so we "toured" around the city for a few hours. Me, being not prepared for winter travelling in Europe, didn't realize how freaking cold it was going to be. I had on jeans and not nearly enough layers so I got a little contrary. I really wasn't liking how the trip started; I had to haul around my suitcase for a couple of hours which was incredibly aggravating, it was freezing, I was hungry, people kept saying all of these things we should do which would take more time than we had, and it just kind of sucked. I was being melodramatic, or maybe hormonal, but probably both looking back on it. We tried to go into the Christiansborg Palace, but it was restricted because of the 40th anniversary of the Queen. There were a couple of exhibits, but nothing too spectacular besides actually going in so we skipped in and moved on.

Click through for more pictures, there's lots!


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Day 6: "Exploring"

So because Blogger hates me, again, it didn't publish my last post until I went and just did it. Lovely.

So "Exploring" in this case actually means getting lost lol. Wednesday was interesting day to say the least. Classes were out early for me, due to having one less class in my schedule. Three other students and I went out in search of the Harlow Town train station to get train cards, basically like a bus pass but for the train. After going the completely wrong way (which I knew we were but no one would listen) and walking for about an hour and a half, we finally found it. The picture machine was broken, so another 45 minute walk to the nearest supermarket to get that done, then back to the train station. Lots of walking. I learned that my Steve boots don't like to be walked in for nearly 3 hours. They won't be coming with me on any trips unless I'm being driven haha.

Today was our first trip into London. No pictures to share at the moment, since my camera is packed and I didn't take many anyways. I'll do those postings on Monday. It was really cool to be actually walking around London and just taking everything in. The train and tube are so good for getting around, more on that to come definitely.

Tomorrow is my first trip outside of Harlow. We're going to Copenhagen! I'm super excited but so nervous too. First time staying at a hostel so that should be interesting. So, with that segway, I'm off again. Have to pack and make sure I have everything together. Early early rise for the flight.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Til next time! 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Day 4: Classes

Oh laptop, sometimes you're dumb. Blogger usually autosaves every two minutes, and I had half a post written and lost it. Such is the internet, it's got good and bad points!

Monday is when all of the fun started. I decided to venture out with my new-found freedom and look for the Tesco. Little did I realize it wasn't the direction I started out in, and got a little lost. Not like, really lost, but lost enough to be confused and too stubborn to turn back to the main road. I did find the main road again eventually, after several turns. Once I made it back to the High, I decided asking for directions was much safer. I got led to the much longer route, but an easy route nonetheless. It was worth the extra walk to get food. Lugging that all back to campus? Not so fun. And just a note: don't try to cross at roundabouts. Avoid them if you're ever in England walking around. They're useless to cross because there's so many roads to cross and cars are going in many different directions!

Monday also marked my first time having wireless. So good. I came back with food, packed everything away and proceeded to sit on my bed and watch Grey's. Which apparently streams through ABC with no problem. And no glitches. Which is so lovely. I haven't tried Glee or ROD yet, which I don't think I'll be able to get, but I'll just have deal.

The rest of the crowd arrived in yesterday as well, just before supper. Which was quite awesome, though I forgot to take pictures of it. I'm a food picture person, completely. Having company was really nice, even walking to the Tesco again was fun cause I had someone to talk to. Honestly I've been so lonely it was nice just to hear people around me.

Today was the first day of classes, thus the title. Our speaker series started, which was interesting. We had a couple of hours to research and present a project, based on one of our courses. Slightly stressful for my group members but I enjoyed. It's a very unstructured class schedule so far. I think that's probably going to continue, and I get free time tomorrow! I've already done one of the courses, so I'll probably nap. It's going to be great haha.

I think that's about all for today, all the other students are trying to get food and get organized after traveling for a week. I feel much better about not being up on things, since I've had time to get situated. In the meantime, things are going well and I'm enjoying it now. So, here's a few pictures of my adventures so far! P.s. this is a picture heavy post, so click through to see everything, with captions!


116. It almost counts.

For shame. I haven't posted an outfit since December 15th! Wow. That's the longest I've gone without posting one I think. So here's comes the overdue Christmas outfits. I wish I'd remembered to participate in today's EBEW, but today was the first day of classes so that wasn't a priority.

Black + White | Everybody, Everywear



Class jacket / Scarf - Le Chateau / Dress - Christmas gift / Leggings - Dynamite / Boots - Steve Madden

This was the Christmas day outfit. Slightly black and white though, right? Linking up just because haha. The dress is actually more like a purple-grey pattern with black and I quite love it. I have a tendency to wear gifted clothes rather quickly after receiving them. In this case, it was Christmas morning and I had no clue what to put on for Boyfriend's family dinner. This was a great choice. You can't see my hidden shameless Santa socks, obviously the best part of my outfit. I get the Christmas obsession from my Mom, who is now reading this! Hi Mommyyyy :)

And of course, we got pictures. We both look a little weird, but here's my boy. Counting the days til he visits, and currently loving MSN and Skype for their communication abilities.


Stay tuned for another post on what I've been up to! I can actually post pictures now!

Til next time!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Day 2: Jet-lag

Today's proceedings were quiet. Realizing I need a lot more sleep to catch up and feel normal again has been number one. Since arriving in the UK yesterday morning, I've slept about 16 hours. I've barely been here 36 hours and I've spent most of them sleeping. Spose I shouldn't complain about that, it's making me feel less crazy.

I managed to find out that I wouldn't be locked out upon leaving, but not until it was almost dark. I'm pretty okay with things around here, it seems safe enough, but I won't be going out alone at night without company. Took a little trip to the nearest store, like a miniature grocery store. It's supposed to be more expensive because of the convenience and the fact that it's a co-op type thing. I don't really care because I now have shampoo and food. And the fixings for a cup of tea. Thank Goooooddddd. (side note: they do have Tetley over here! I will not have to ration my tea bags as I thought, but I'm still not going to share haha)

So, in case you haven't noticed or in case you're just new, I've created a new link for my header. Click on Harlow and you'll see my latest post like this. Or just anything related to Harlow. I plan on writing posts like this, informative and descriptive of what I'm doing at least a few times a week. Or when I'm bored. I'm going to try to keep up with some outfit posts and pictures of what's happening, however due to the lack of wireless on my laptop (which I am not happy about) I can't get my pictures on this here blog yet. Apparently I have to be set up on it. Lovely. So that's coming tomorrow thankfully, along with pictures of the few things I've seen. I forgot to take a picture of my suitcase before I unpacked it, that would have been interesting.

I think that's it. Off to...umm...well I don't really have much to do right now but probably more reading. I'm almost through "The Help" which I am quite enjoying. There's no other Business students here so I have lots of free time. Or maybe I'll just eat. I like eating too, now that I have real food.

Til next time!

Friday, January 6, 2012

115. Leaving on a jet plane.

A quick message here from Montreal! I've reached my first stop-over on my Harlow journey, only about a half hour til I leave again. Super tired from flying, I haven't slept right all week with the excitement. Or eaten correctly for that matter. First flight had a middle stop to pick up/drop off more passengers, which was much more tiring than I thought. I'd apparently rather one long flight than two short ones. I'm getting my wish soon as the flight to Heathrow departs shortly.

I've got a new camera and purse and suitcase to take me on my journey, among other travel essentials, but had to leave my pretty Nikon home. Oh well. I was super worried about my suitcase, I was 4lbs over but the woman at check-in let me through without charging me. Bless her. I need nice people, I keep having mini break-downs about traveling alone. It's uncool, but I'm trying to stay as calm as possible.

I'm looking forward to all the experiences I'm going to have in the next few days even! Hope to update with pictures soon, and to any family reading this hi! I hope you don't think I'm weird for having a secret blog, and please let me know what you think!

Til next time!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

114. Don't stop (til you get it all done!)

2012 has been one thing for me so far: busy! I'm working on preparations for Harlow, packing up and buying supplies that I won't be able to get. Trying to get some inspiration from all the 30x30 challenges I've followed to minimize the wardrobe I'm taking. It's not as easy as I thought hoped it might be! 

A little blogging break over Christmas was very needed, and I'll probably be taking another break til I get everything figured out overseas. I've even got some overdue Christmas outfits to post. I'm thinking scheduled posts for the next few days are a definite.


So in a break from packing and organizing, Kym from Bitty and Bunny was so sweet in passing on this award to me! I love things like this, but this is my first award-themed post! Read on for the rules and my take on things!
rules:
  • link back to the blogger you got the award from
  • write 7 things about yourself
  • fill in the question form below
  • give the award to 10 other bloggers
Q&A:

favorite song: Hey Jude - The Beatles, Let It Be Me - Ray Lamontagne, Sparks - Coldplay, Work - Jimmy Eat World, etc.
favorite dessert: my Mom's cherry cake or trifle. 
what pisses you off: ignorant people, people who are intentionally mean.
when you're upset, you: cry, listen to music, or talk to my Mom.
your favorite pet: my dog Emmy, fat and cuddly. 
black or white: black.
biggest fear: being alone.
best feature: my waist & long legs.
everyday attitude: content. 
what is perfection: being with friends and family, any time of year.
guilty pleasure: Glee, Grey's, chocolate.

7 Random Things About Me:
1. Though I haven't had braces since 2006, I still have retainers and wear a mouth guard nightly. I'm super cool like that. 
2. I've only done 2 flights by myself, and on Friday I fly across the Atlantic alone. I'm so nervous.
3. I find cooking to be pointless. You put all that effort in to cook, and then eat. Baking you get to share and enjoy for several days, makes much more sense to me haha. 
4. Even during the summer, I'm always covered up with a blanket when I'm watching tv. Unless it's super warm. 
5. I use mostly beer glasses collected free from give-aways. We've got quite a collection here.
6. I'd leave my Christmas tree up from November to February if I wouldn't get strange looks from my roommates. 
7. I've never had to do my own laundry on a regular basis. Harlow will be my first time being accountable for laundry and being on my own completely. 

I'm passing this award onto Erica from NorthMeetsSouth, Kelly from Unremittingly Kel, Kileen from Cute and Little, Audrey from Putting Me Together, Terri from Stylish Sass, Lizzie from Place Clever Title Here, Sarah from Just Take A Bow, Em from Hippie Lace and Kayla Nails by Kayla Shevonne! All of these are blogs I definitely suggest you check out!

Off again, have to continue plowing through my list! Here's hoping I get some time to schedule posts!

Til next time!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Project 52: Week 45 - 52

Here's my last big wrap-up. I've been adding them to this post, just because I wanted to finish it all in one go. So here's the last two months of my Project 52!

Week 45: Book Title. An old collection. I've got too many books, and many of my old ones from highschool stay here at home. Pretty self-explanatory.



Week 46: Over the Top. My Aunt P goes way overboard with Christmas. Gifts, especially. This is about a third of her presents that I wrapped for her. This was one of my good deeds for Christmas haha, to try and reduce her stress level! Taken with Blackberry and taken from Facebook, so the quality sucks lol.




Week 47: Water. The Christmas lights reflecting on the harbour are one of the prettiest things ever, but the water is rarely still enough to get a good reflection. Here's one of the best I managed to get.




Week 48: Twinkle Twinkle. I was going to use a Christmas tree image for this, but I was so fascinated by the glitter on these bushes. It's really faint, and you can't see it well enough, but driving by these was so pretty. The frost had formed quickly on the branches and all down this deserted road was a glittery pathway. This is no flash and just headlights, I think. Too bad it didn't work!




Week 49: Tradition. This has been a tradition from way before I was born. My parents and grandparents would have one, or several, B-52 shots before and after Christmas Eve mass. I've taken part in the past couple of years. We have a couple of rounds together and over the phone with the rest of my Dad's family, then head to bed and wait for Santa.





Week 50: Festive Colors. The lights of the tree, behind tinsel and ornaments and bokeh'd out. Prettyyyyy.




Week 51: Holiday Cheer. Another easy picture. People are home, shed parties are happening, it's a good time. I am from the Bay and I am proud of it haha.




Week 52: What Life is All About. These are the two people who matter most to me, with the third close behind taking the picture. Family and friends are the most important thing, always.


I hope you've all enjoyed my Project 52! I didn't always post on time or even in the right month or sequence, but I enjoyed being challenged like this. Definitely a fun thing to take part in.

Happy New Year to all my readers and friends! I hope 2012 is amazing for you and brings you everything you're hoping for :)

Til next time!