2015: A Year in Review

It's that time of year again - my annual year in review. I've done this a few times since I started blogging and I like doing it because it forces me to reflect on the past 12 months and take in all that's changed in my life. So, let's go:




- I hit the big 3-0 this year and celebrated with family and friends in style with a fancy pink and gold sparkle party. The glitzy glam night was exactly how I wanted to enter into my next decade. 






- I spent some time in the hospital and had emergency gall bladder surgery! What a whirlwind three weeks that was. As painful as the experience was, I know I'm much better off now that the ordeal is finally over. 







- My wonderful brother married the love of his life and I finally gained a sister. The wedding was one of the most beautiful I've ever been to and I was so honoured to be involved as a bridesmaid. 

- Some of my girlfriends and I began a monthly brunch club, where we tried different restaurants around the city. It was so good to have a regular date with friends, to catch up over delicious food and of course, obligatory mimosas. We love brunch club!!

- After a hectic first half of year with work and surgeries, I finally took a vacation in August and went back to my second home, Toronto for a week of friends, food and familiar haunts. It was so good to be back and to get the city into my blood again. 

- I celebrated the ten year anniversary of the term that changed my life. I've mentioned time and time again in the blog how my experience in Harlow changed my life. During the autumn, I remembered where I'd been on a particular day or what I'd been doing during a certain period of time. It's hard to believe ten years has passed since I was with this group of people. 

- I took another last minute trip to Toronto in December, this time meeting up with my folks and taking my mother to a taping of one of my favourite television shows, The Social. We had a great time! 

- I also popped outside of Toronto and spent a weekend with two of my favourite gals, shopping and visiting wineries in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region. Lots of laughs were had those couple of days! 

- I enjoyed a magical Christmas break packed with brunches, lunches, coffees and parties with friends from home and friends from away. It's always a whirlwind time of year, but it's always so good. 

So there you have it. 2015 is in the books. It was a good year with me turning 30 and my brother's beautiful wedding, but I have a feeling there's big things to come next year. 

I usually like to come up with some kind of motto or quote to live by for the upcoming year. This year, the one I'm really feeling is one I've used before and even blogged about recently during my #NaBloWriMo challenge. "More fun, less fear" is what's going to push me through into 2016 and stay with me throughout the next 12 months. Let's see how it goes. 

Here's to new beginnings, new experiences, fresh perspectives. 

Welcome 2016: more fun, less fear!

This is 30

This year, I turned the big 3-0. Eight months ago to the day, actually. I have to admit, I felt pretty anxious about it. There was something about leaving my twenties that made me feel uneasy. I think the start of a new decade always does that. When I turned 20, I thought about how much had changed from when I was a wee 10-year-old up to being so old at 20. Twenty saw lots of changes and lots of growing up for me. It was a year that held new experiences, new adventures, new relationships. It was a good year.

As I was approaching 30, I reflected on how much I had grown since I was 20. In 2005, I had the opportunity to participate in a term abroad that I've blogged about before. It really was a life-changing experience for me, one that I continue to cherish to this day.

I think about how my career path changed from what I thought I wanted to do with my life, to what I'm doing now. I think about how ten years ago, I didn't know some people existed, and now they're the closest friends I have. I think about the people who are no longer with us, who left unexpectedly, and wonder what they'd think of the world and the people in their lives now.

I even think about things like technology - being able to live-stream video chats from my phone to loved ones thousands of miles away while standing in Piccadilly Circus or in front of Il Duomo di Firenze. I think about how fortunate I've been to travel to some amazing countries and see beautiful sites. All things that happened in the past 10 years.

As I turned 30 this year, I said goodbye to a decade that changed me so much. My twenties were pretty good, but I'm looking forward to seeing what my thirties have in store. 

Hopping back in time

There's an app that I recently downloaded that I check almost every day. Timehop is an online time capsule that connects to your social networks and shows you what you were doing one, five, however many years ago on that day.

I checked my Timehop today and this time last year, I was waiting for a late night flight to London for a fantastic two-week vacation with one of my closest friends. It was one of my favourite trips. I'll most likely blog about it more in the days to come, considering I'll have lots of Timehop throwbacks coming up over the next two weeks. :)

I also scrolled down further in the Timehop app and it showed me what I was doing nine years ago today. Funnily enough, I was with that same friend and some of our other friends on a night out on the town. Thanks to Timehop, I'm reminded of some fun nights we had in the distant past, and some more recent fun nights we've had, just a year ago.

For someone who's memory isn't the best, I like having Timehop remind me what Elizabeth was doing four, six, nine years ago. It lets me reminisce about the person I was then and how much I've grown and changed since those years. If you don't have Timehop yet, why not download it and check it out? You might be surprised with what you find!

It's been a while...

Almost two years, to be exact. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!

So long, old look.

You may notice things look a little less...pink around here. Yep. I decided that for the new year, I'd give this blog a new look. It's undergone a serious face lift. Out with the pink, in with the gold. (Though, I think there's still some pink lurking around somewhere. I can't get rid of all of it, it's pretty much in my blood.)

I've been really into gold lately - gold jewelry, gold nail polish, gold decorative pieces around my home...so it seemed somewhat fitting to infuse my online home with a bit of gold. I'm really liking the look, and I hope you like it too!

Hello, new look.

I took some time away from blogging the past couple of years due to my offline life getting busy and lots of changes happening. Now that things have levelled out a bit, I've decided that 2015 would be a good time to take it up again. New year, renewed blogging commitment. I'm not promising to blog every single day, or even every single week, but we'll see if I can pump out a few posts a month. Let's start slow, folks. I've gotta ease myself back into this. :)

I've also decided to change my blogging topics a bit - there will be less PR posts and more lifestyle/home decor/foodie posts. The Newfoundland food scene has really picked up in the past few years and I really enjoy going out and trying new restaurants, so look for some resto reviews in the coming months. As I said above, home decor is also something I'm going to be exploring on the blog. I'm still a big fan of Pinterest and have taken to trying some DIY pins I've found, so you can look forward to entries on some simple, DIY projects.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for coming back and checking things out. I hope you'll come back and see what I have in store for this little blog!

2013, Here We Go!

Well, we're almost a month into 2013 and it's time to talk about Resolutions. Did you make any for this new year? I'll admit, I've been struggling a bit with trying to figure out what I'd like to accomplish during the next twelve months. Last year, I did a pretty good job with two out of my four resolutions: I read more, thanks to my Book Club, and I definitely cooked more, thanks to Transatlantic Tastes, but I didn't spend less money (judging from the numerous pairs of new shoes in my closet) and I didn't really worry less. (I knew those two would be tricky, especially the worrying part - Captain Over-Thinker, right here, folks).


Since I was so successful with my "more's" last year, my overall resolution is to Do More: Cooking, Reading, Whatever.


My cooking partner and I are planning on keeping up with our cooking, but we've decided to step it up a notch and branch out from the wonderful Jamie Oliver. (N is convinced we're now "advanced" chefs. We'll see how this goes.) As we're both pretty active on Pinterest, we've come across a lot of recipes that we're looking forward to trying out. So, one resolution: Cook More (Again).

As I said above, I read more in 2012, thanks to the Book Club I joined with some friends. As I now have a Kobo Vox, courtesy of my mother, I've been downloading books like they're going out of style, but that hasn't stopped me from actually purchasing physical books as well. What I'm currently reading: Forgotten, by Catherine McKenzie. I've read her other two books, Arranged and Spin and loved them both, so I'm looking forward to this one very much. Book Club has started up again this month so I'll also be reading Wild, by Cheryl Strayed in the next couple of days. So, my second resolution: Read More (Again).

My last resolution is to Do More in general. "Do more what?" you might ask? Do more whatever. Do more cardio at the gym, do more volunteering, do more exploring, do more blogging, whatever! Just do more. Use the time I have to do as much as possible. As I said in my 2012 Year in Review, quoting the Holstee Manifesto: "Do what you love and do it often." Well, I'm going to do more of what I love, and do it often.




I called 2013 my Break Out Year, and I think it really will be. Time to "Do More" for me, because I owe it to myself. So, with almost one month down, here we go. Here's to 2013! My Break Out Year, the best year yet!

I've got my game face on. Bring it, 2013!

2012: The Year in Review

It's that time of year again - the ol' Year in Review. Time to take a look at the past 12 months and all the good (and maybe not so good) things that happened in my life.

My first impression of 2012 was that it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be; but then, things rarely go the way you hope or plan them to. So while I first thought of 2012 as kind of disappointing, reflecting on the past 366 days (it was a leap year, remember?) has shown me that there was a lot of good in the year, and I have much to be thankful for. Let's take a look, shall we?

- Beginning a transatlantic cooking adventure with a best friend living across the pond that has taught us a number of new recipes and to be thankful for ever-evolving forms of communication that keeps us connected while living on opposite sides of the world.

- Celebrating my Champagne Birthday in my former home, Toronto. A weekend filled with my favourite things in one of my favourite places!




- Having laser surgery and saying goodbye to glasses for good! Our 17 year relationship finally came to an end, and I am thankful every day for my perfect vision.

- Taking off to the Sunshine State for a week in April with my family, our first family vacation in about 12 years!

- Going to Montreal with three of my best friends for a wild bachelorette weekend in July! It was time well spent for the four of us, who hadn't been all together since the previous Christmas.

- Getting to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's weddings, and being a part of her special day when she married her very best friend.




- Undertaking a blogging challenge in the month of November that tested my blogging skills and my patience!





- Enjoying the most relaxing Christmas I've had in years with family and friends, better than any gift that could be bought from a store.




I remember this time last year, I was really excited for 2011 to be over and for 2012 to begin, because I had a lot of plans for this year. I'd said I wanted to make my champagne birthday the most memorable of all, and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday than doing exactly what I'd wanted to do - spend it in Toronto doing all my favourite things. My trip to Florida with my family was a fantastic week filled with shopping, sunning and quality family time.

The bachelorette weekend in Montreal was definitely one of the more memorable experiences myself and the girls have had in our friendship, but the icing on the cake was definitely standing in A's wedding. Moments before we walked down the aisle, the four of us stood in a circle and marveled at how far we've come over the past seven years, and how much has changed for the better in our lives. It was a magical day and I'm so thankful I was part of it.

So, I guess when I think about all these lovely thing that happened this past year, I can say that while it didn't exactly happen the way I'd planned, 2012 still held wonderful things for me. It was a really good year, but I have a sneaky feeling 2013 holds something even better.

Last year, I shared my favourite Mark Twain quote: "Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. Discover." And while those words are ones I try to live by every day, this year, I have a new quote that I'm going to live by, and it's one you may have already seen around the internet. It's called The Holstee Manifesto, and it's pictured below.

This is my life. I'm planning to live it as best I can and to the fullest extent. Happy New Year! Here's to 2013: My Break Out Year!

Blogging Detox...

After a month long blogging challenge, I felt a bit drained and had to take a little break from The Elizabeth Files. I have to say though, even though there were times when I dreaded having to write a new entry, I actually really enjoyed the challenge and would consider doing it again in the future.

But, after taking a couple of weeks off, I'm back at it! With the Christmas season upon us, I have lots of new things to talk about, including my venture into wine-making, as I mentioned last month. Plus, as December is drawing to a close, it'll soon be time for the annual Year in Review. I feel that once you do something three times in a row, it becomes a tradition. So, as this will be the third year for the Year in Review, it is now officially a tradition. That will come in a couple weeks time. I'll also have to do a review of how my New Years resolutions went. Lots to blog about!

Check back soon!

Sail away from safe harbour.

I always did like Mark Twain. I always enjoyed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was one of my favourite books in high school. But the thing I like most about Mark Twain is the quote below. It's one of my favourites and something I try to remember every single day.

I discovered this quote in my mid-twenties and it's resonated with me ever since. I try to live by it every day, because I don't want to look back and say "I wish I'd done that." I want to look back and say "I can't believe I did that."

The Birthday Weekend That Was...

As I said in a previous entry, on March 27, I celebrated my 27th birthday, also known as my Champagne birthday. Now, here's something you may not have known about me: I like to make a big deal out of things. Whether it's birthdays or Christmas or Valentine's Day, whatever, I'm all over it. (Remember the Royal Wedding this time last year? Yeah. I was up at 3am and hosted a Royal Wedding breakfast for family and friends, complete with fascinator. All while wearing my PJs. It's how I roll.)

So for something that only happens once in my lifetime, I really had to make a big deal about it. I hummed and haa'd, and decided a party wouldn't be enough. I usually have a party, but this year had to be different. I needed to really mark the occasion somehow.

I had been missing Toronto a lot lately, and kept reminiscing about all the places and things that I used to visit and do there, and then, at the beginning of March, it hit me: Why not go to Toronto for a weekend? I kept looking at my schedule, looking at all the work I had to do, and checking the prices of flights, and I just didn't think I'd be able to do it. I was pretty bummed. So I went back to moping about the lack of celebration surrounding my big day.

About two weeks before my birthday, I received an email from Air Canada, advertising a 50% sale on flights throughout Eastern Canada. I checked, and sure enough, there was a cheap, cheap flight from St. John's to Toronto's downtown airport. I thought it through and finally decided there really was no way I could ignore this opportunity. I could go to Toronto for a long weekend and come back to Newfoundland the day before my birthday. So, I checked with the boss and then I was off!

For the time leading up to the trip, I was pretty much giddy all day long. I planned my three days there down to the hour, figured out where I'd visit and who I'd see and what I'd buy. When 5am on Saturday, March 24th came, I was on my way...

Check back in a couple of days to read all about my weekend, starting with the fun-filled Saturday!

Happiness Is...

...A spur of the moment trip, to a city where you lived for a few years on your own, away from close family and friends, left to create your own, new little life.

...A new book by a favourite author, just waiting to be opened and devoured.

...A coffee date with a good friend, catching up on all the events that have happened during months of separation.

...A fabulous meal, cooked by myself, full of nutritious, delicious ingredients.

...An evening spent curled up on the couch watching a favourite film.

What is happiness to you? :)

New Year, New Me (and possibly New You?)

Now that we're into the second week of 2012, I thought it would be a good time to lay out some new resolutions. I'm sure we all make the usual "I'll do more of this, less of that" kind of thing, but how many of us actually stick to it?

I'm betting (and I'm including myself in this) that the majority of us don't stay committed to our New Years resolutions. I wonder how long it takes for us to forget about them or give up on them? Well, I'm hoping to change that this year.

Since this is The Year of Elizabeth (Part 2), I've made a couple of...promises to myself, shall we say. A couple of "more's" and one or two "lesses". Let's see if I can stick with these for the next 355 or so days:


1. Learn to cook more: One of my best friends is currently completing her Ph.D in England, so since she's 5,000 kilometers across the Atlantic, Skype is pretty much a Godsend in keeping in touch and being able to interact with her. Cooking is something that I'm becoming more and more interested in over the past year and a half, and she has also expressed an interest in mastering some new recipes.

So, we've made a pact (Yes, a pact, Nancy, that makes it sound more official) to have a weekly Sunday night Skype date where we both make the same recipe, 5,000 kilometers apart, a new recipe each week. If only there were some way to have a judge taste test our creations...we're very competitive, you see. I have a feeling Jamie Oliver's cookbooks are definitely going to be well used this year. Even if the pact doesn't quite stick, (because, y'know, she's writing her Ph.D and I've just started a new job as a PR coordinator for a busy marketing firm, so we might be a bit busy at times...) I'll still be testing new creations and sharing them on my blog.

2. Spend less: This could mean any number of things. Spend less money, spend less time watching television, spend less whatever. If I'm going to make this my best year yet, I don't have time to waste, or money to spend on trivial things. So, if I want to accomplish some financial goals and lifestyle goals, it's time to spend less.

3. Read more: Having done an English degree in university, I've always been a big reader. But when life gets in the way, especially when it comes to my job, reading for pleasure tends to take a back seat. I had wanted to read more this year anyway, but having now joined a book club hosted by one of my girlfriends, I'm going to have to read at least one book a month in order to keep up with the club! Here's hoping there are some good reads in my future! I've already finished one book so far this year, and I'm starting my next today: P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley. I've heard good things about it from a reliable source (my favourite former English prof) so I'm very excited to begin tonight.


4. Worry less: I have a problem: I'm a big thinker. I think about a lot of things and then think some more about them, and when I'm finished....I go back and think again. And then...I just might think it over, one more time. Again.

Sometimes my thinking is more so worrying: worrying about oversleeping, worrying about getting a document written in time, worrying about being late for something, worrying about upsetting someone. This year....I'm going to learn to chill out. Worry less. Think...well, not less. But over-analyze less. This one will definitely be a challenge for me, because how do you stop yourself from thinking?


And so, there you have it. Four rules, resolutions, guidelines, goals, whatever - that I'll hopefully be able to stick to, keep up with, follow - over the next year. Wish me luck!

Have you made any resolutions for 2012? Share them with me!

Change is a Comin'

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine said to me it was probably time to change the title of my blog, and that got me thinking. I knew it was time for another update, because there's been a few significant updates in my life over the past couple of months.

And so, here I am, announcing to you, dear reader, that change is a comin' to my blog like it came to my life. Watch this space, 'cause it's about to undergo some remodeling.

Patience. You'll see soon enough! :)

So Long, 2010! It's Been a Time!

As 2010 draws to a close and we prepare to welcome 2011, it's time for me to reflect on what's happened in my life during the past year. This time last year, I had decided that 2010 would be The Year of Elizabeth, and I have to say, I actually managed to live up to that in regards to a lot of things!

There were some ups, some downs, but I certainly wasn't out. After everything that's gone on, I still think it's been one of the best years yet. :)

Here are some of the highlights:

- Completing the craziest year of school of my LIFE and graduating from Humber College with my PR certificate

- Turning a quarter of a century and and having a fabulous 25th birthday weekend, complete with a surprise visit from my brother Dan who flew up from Newfoundland for the day

- Really making the move to Toronto and moving into my first apartment ever (While I did move to Toronto last year to go to school, I feel like I moved this time because I wanted to, not because I had to for school. So it's different!)

- Developing an addiction to the Food Network just in time to meet some of my favourite celebrity chefs during their stops in Toronto on their book tours

- Going home to Newfoundland for the summer and completing an internship with one of the best companies in Newfoundland and learning about the PR industry in my home province

- Starting another internship in Toronto with one of the best and most exciting companies in the country & being fortunate enough to work on an awesome digital team

It's been a year where I've learned a lot, not just about my new profession, but about myself and what I'm capable of when I put myself out there and just try; try new things, new foods, new books, new areas of the city, new whatever.

Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. Discover." and I think Twain was right. I've learned that trying and failing is better than not trying at all. Though I've had some experiences this year that have been not great - in fact, they've been downright awful - they didn't kill me, and I managed to go away from them having learned a lot.

It was a year of growth for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2011 has in store. Perhaps 2011 will be "The Year of Elizabeth...Again"?

Happy New Year, everyone! All the best for 2011!