It's that time of year again...

NaBloWriMo time! National Blog Writing Month is the time of year when I put my blogging skills to the test. When I see if I can actually blog once a day, every day, for an entire month. I did it last year and while it was a struggle at times, I made it. So, I want to try it again this year. Blogging is something I really enjoy but struggle with, due to work, personal, life in general. But, NaBloWriMo (based off of NaNoWriMo) forces me to dedicate myself to my writing and to the upkeep of my blog.

You can expect a lot of random entries about the oddest little thoughts that pop into my head, as well as some longer, more thought-out posts. Sometimes all I'll have time for is a quick musing over a photo I've taken and posted on Instagram, and others might be a bit more in depth. It's going to be a mixed bag, but that's kind of the fun of NaBloWriMo!

So, here we go, off to the races. Entry #1 = DONE. Hope you enjoy this month-long journey with me!

More fun, less fear

As I wrap up my #NaBlowWriMo blogging challenge, I wanted my final entry to be a bit special. It's been a long November and there were days when I forgot to blog and had to write a couple of entries in a row, but I made it. So let's end off with something that I've been saving...

I've been using a hashtag over the past couple of years - #morefunlessfear. I didn't invent it myself but I can't remember where I originally saw it. What I do know is that I've been trying to apply it to my life ever since.

"More fun, less fear" seems like a pretty good motto for making sure you take the time to try new things, get out of your comfort zone and really live.

#morefunlessfear has encouraged me to take steps towards living more in my life - both baby steps and giant leaps. It's been the final push over the edge of making decisions that have led to interesting experiences that I know I would've regretted not trying. It's made me more of a "I'm glad I did that" person instead of a "I wish I'd done that" person, and I'm grateful for that. 

Regret is something that I try to avoid and as I get older, I'm more and more conscious of it. You only get one life, so don't live it on the sidelines. Take the trip, spend the money on that Kate Spade bag (no arguments here, I'll always spend the money on the Kate Spade bag) and rarely turn down an opportunity to try something new. You never know where it will lead you and how it will change your life. 

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. 

2014: The Year in Review

2014. What a year. It was a year full of big changes for myself, my family and my friends. Some changes were amazing and came in the form of new jobs, new living situations and new relationships. Others came in the form of illness and disappointments. Looking back on the past twelve months, I can say without hesitation that it's been one of the most eventful years of my life.

This year was definitely the Year of Weddings for me. With half a dozen close friends getting married over the past twelve months, and me standing or participating in some way in almost all of those weddings, to say I'm a bit wedding'd out is fairly accurate. Still, I'm so grateful to all of those friends for asking me to be part of their special days in some form or another.

Weddings weren't the only events that took place this year, though. Let's take a look back at some of the highlights of my 2014:



- Being bridesmaid for a close friend in her glamourous Toronto wedding in February. A long weekend in Toronto is always enjoyable, but when it includes a spectacular wedding of a favourite friend, it doesn't get much better than that. It was fabulous!

- Moving into a gorgeous new apartment with a spectacular view of St. John's. Though this is a small city, living in the east end instead of the centre or downtown areas of town has been a big adjustment for me. Still, it does have its perks - I can see the ocean from my window and have a beautiful view of Signal Hill!







- Taking off on a spur of the moment long weekend to our nation's capital to visit family and friends and escape the island for a few days. Sometimes, the best trips come out of the blue with very little planning. This wouldn't be the only time I did that this year...






- Helping my best friend of 25 years plan her beautiful garden wedding, and stand by her side as her maid of honour. As I'd said to Meg on her wedding day: we've been through a lot, and through it all, we've grown up together and shared each other's biggest and littlest moments. I was truly honoured to be with her as she went from Ms. to Mrs.






- Escaping to Europe on another spur of the moment trip for two weeks with a good friend. As I'd said before, sometimes the best trips come unexpectedly. We experienced the simple things in life: good food, somewhat good wine, lots of history and loads of beautiful scenery. Italy and France, I'd missed you.






- Finally returning to where I left my heart almost a decade ago: London. Breathing in that crisp, English air and feeling the rush of that beautiful city was magical. I felt a constant hum of excitement pulsing through me every day I was there. I know I'll be back again soon.







- Celebrating a different kind of Christmas in my new home. Instead of going to my folks' house, they came to mine, where we've enjoyed making new traditions.





As I said before, 2014 really was one of the most eventful years of my life. Lots of changes came my way, both positive and negative. But overall, it was a really great year. As 2014 comes to a close, I look towards 2015 and what it will hold: a big wedding for my family, a big birthday for me (30! Yikes!) and more challenges ahead, both personally and professionally. But that's okay. I'm ready for it all. I'm going to face 30 head on and take whatever else comes in stride. 

Welcome, 2015! It's time to be fierce.

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!

Blogging Challenge = Complete!

Today is the last day of November and that means it's the last day of my blogging challenge! All month long I've been blogging once a day, every day. There were days when I almost didn't make it; had no idea what to write about; almost completely forgot to write; but, I made it to November 30th with an entry every day. I'm proud that I was able to stick with it, even through the times when I almost said "I don't wanna blog today, I don't have time, I'm too tired, blah blah blah." It's been tough, but it's finally finished! Thanks for sticking with me, and we'll see how long it takes me to write another entry. :) Might be sooner than I think!

Personal Goal? Check.

This year, being the Year of Elizabeth (Again), I made a few resolutions to try and make this my best year yet. I wrote them up in a lovely little blog post for you all to see, and I've been working hard to keeping those resolutions. But I also made another resolution to myself that I didn't share with you.

I've admired friends of mine who are also bloggers for their dedication to their blogs and how they've managed to stick with blogging on a regular basis. It was something I wanted to do as well, and so this year, along with my four listed resolutions that I intended to keep, I also made a fifth one that I kept to myself. I wanted to blog at least once a week for the entire year, so I would have at least fifty-two entries by the end of 2012. It might seem like a strange resolution, but I wanted to challenge myself.

I started off pretty good, and managed to keep up with my once-a-week blogging until around April, when work got busy and my personal life went out the window. I kept meaning to blog, but I just didn't have the time to sit down and think out an entry. So I put it off and put it off, promising myself I'd get back on track the next week.

Summer turned to Fall and I only had one entry a month for about four months straight, so when I counted up how many entries I'd had for the year, I was less than halfway to my target of fifty-two and it was almost November. I was disappointed I'd let it go on for so long, but then, I heard about NaNoWriMo.

As I'd said in my entry at the beginning on November, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and while I didn't want to write a novel, it did give me the idea to write a blog entry every day for the month. Not only would it be a great way to challenge my blogging and writing skills, but it would take me up to my goal of fifty-two entries for the year.

Yesterday I'm happy to say, was my fifty-second entry of the year. It was a little accomplishment that I'm actually pretty proud of. I managed to hit my target, and with this entry, I'm surpassing it. There's still one more day left to November, and one more month left to 2012, so let's see what number I can hit by the end of the Year of Elizabeth. :)

Christmas is coming...

A month from today it will be Christmas Day. As it's my first Christmas on my own in my own little apartment, I went out and bought a tree last night and put it up this afternoon. It's not decorated yet, but it's a start. I'm looking forward to buying all the lights and bulbs to decorate it, and to buying other Christmassy things to make my little apartment nice and festive.

With the first of December only days away, I'm trying to get more and more into the Christmas spirit, and get my Christmas shopping underway. There are presents to be bought and wrapped and cookies to be baked in the coming weeks! My countdown to Christmas is finally underway!

The 10k Mark

Last night as I was posting my latest entry about Alias, I noticed that the counter at the bottom of the page had hit 10,000 views. It might not seem like a big deal, and really, it isn't. But for me, it felt like a little accomplishment. (Sad? Maybe. Do I care? Not really.)

I originally started this blog about three years ago for school. In my Humber College PR program, one of our courses was a social media course, and we had to sign up for Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and create a blog. While I don't use my Youtube account anymore, I tweet almost daily and LinkedIn is one of the websites I visit first when I turn my computer on in the mornings at work.

This blog has undergone a few changes over the years, and there have been months when I haven't written an entry at all, but I've managed to keep it chugging along somehow. I know some people are much more dedicated with their blogs, and have tens of thousands of visitors an oodles of entries, but that's not mine, and that doesn't matter to me. I'm proud of the variety of entries I've written over the past few years and the bits and pieces of my life I've shared. I'm looking forward to becoming more comfortable with blogging over time, and looking forward to seeing what direction it'll take me in next.

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 end of the long weekend

A funny thing about a long weekend is that even though you only get one extra day off, that day can make all the difference in the world. I spent a lot of this weekend relaxing and trying to recharge my batteries before the final push to the end of the year. I've been determined to make 2012 a good year, and so far, I've done fairly well. 

There are only six weeks left until Christmas and seven weeks left until the end of the year, and I'm determined to make them count. Time to hit the sack and get back on track. 

Revisiting the New Years Resolutions - Part Two

Picking up where I left off in Part One, I'm finishing off my update on my resolutions for the year. Let's see how I did with the rest...

3. Read more: One of my goals this year was to read more. Having joined a book club for the first time in my life, I have read a few new books that I never would've picked up before, some of which I've liked, others I didn't, but I think that's actually a good thing about book clubs - you never know what you're going to get, and even if you don't really like the book, at least it exposed you to something new and different.

Our latest book was The Secret Daughter by Shilpi S Gowda, which I really enjoyed. If you're looking for a new book, I highly recommend this one, or another one of my favourites, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. (Okay, I'm biased - that was my choice for book club a few months ago, but I'm only championing it because everyone at book club loved it! And I'd heard so many good things about it before I picked it. It's a really lovely read!) Next on our list is The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. I've heard good things about this one too, so I'm excited to start it in the next few days.

4. Worry less: This is a difficult one for me. The people closest to me in life know all too well my bad habit of over-thinking things, from major life decisions to whether or not I should buy those leopard print heels. (for the record...always buy the heels. They're an investment. Trust me on this.) Like all bad habits, this is a tough one to break, but I've really been trying hard to get myself to chill out when it comes to making decisions.

I read a great quote on Pinterest a little while ago and it helped me see things from a different perspective: "Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right." Over-thinking tends to be about negative stuff, so I've been trying to think about all the positive things that could come out of decisions I've made, and tried to focus on them instead of the negative things. Like everything else in my life, this is a work in progress. Plus, having certain friends, who know me all too well, give me a mental slap upside the head is a good way to stop and check myself too.

When I began 2012, I'd said that it was going to be the Year of Elizabeth (Part 2). And so far, things are turning out okay. Now, we're just about into October, and with only three months left in the year, I'm determined to make these the best three yet. We'll see how it goes.

Until next time!

Revisiting the New Years Resolutions - Part One

At the beginning of 2012, I made a list of four things I wanted to try and do this year. Now that we're more than halfway through the year, (which I can hardly believe - WHERE did the time go?!) I thought it was be a good idea to check in with myself and see how I've been doing with keeping my resolutions. This might jog your memory as well, and make you revisit any resolutions you may have made earlier in the year too!

1. Learn to cook more: When 2012 began, a good friend of mine and I decided we wanted to try a bunch of new recipes that were relatively easy but still delicious to expand our palettes. Being a big Jamie Oliver fan, and having watched his television series where he teaches people who have never picked up a frying pan in their life how to cook, I thought his cookbook, Jamie's Food Revolution, would be a good place to start. We began our cooking series, Transatlantic Tastes (Since we live on opposite sides of the Atlantic for parts of the year, we cook "together" via Skype) and learned a few new recipes while catching up on what was new with each other.

Now, as I'd said in my original blog post, I figured that we wouldn't be able to cook every single week, because we're both busy people, and I knew life would get in the way. So while we haven't cooked as often as we would've liked, we did manage to do our cooking sessions a handful of times, and we are still trying to get back on track. Stay tuned for more recipes!

2. Spend less: This year, I wanted to spend less; time, money, whatever. I took a look at my upcoming year and all the things I knew would be costing me money over the next 12 months (like weddings, travel, etc.) and wrote down all of my bills and loans to pay off, and set up a budget. Thanks to online banking, a lot of these can be paid automatically at certain times of the month, and also thanks to the helpful bank teller at BMO, I've been able to work out a schedule and figure out how to pay off some of those loans, while still putting away money into my savings.

I've also been spending less time on things like watching television, but during the summer, that's not exactly hard - there's not a lot of good television happening (except for Mad Men and Suits, but the former finished early in the summer and the latter only takes up an hour of my time each week, so that's okay, right? Plus, who can resist the charming Harvey Specter? Not this girl.) I've been spending less time being lazy on the couch and much more time hitting the gym. If you have a membership, you might as well use it as much as possible, right?

Have I jogged your memory just yet? I'll be back soon with Part Two of Revisiting the New Years Resolutions!

Elizabeth and Nancy's Transatlantic Cooking Adventures!

In my first blog post of the year, I talked about 2012 being the Year of Elizabeth (Again), and the different resolutions I want to keep during that time. One of those resolutions was to learn to cook more.


Being a big fan of Jamie Oliver, I own a bunch of his cook books, like any proper fan would. One of my favourite books of his is  "Jamie's Food Revolution" - a collection of recipes for even the most basic of chefs (like myself.)


I sat down to lunch one day a few weeks ago with my good friend Nancy. She's currently working on her Ph.D at Oxford, and was about to fly back to England to begin a new term. I told her of my plan to work my way through a lot of the recipes in Jamie's book, and the more I talked about it, the more she liked my plan. The more she liked it, the more she wanted to do it herself, until finally, Nancy decided that she, too, wanted to try some of the recipes.



From our talking and planning, we agreed to have a weekly cooking date, where we would make the same recipe, me in Newfoundland and Nancy in Oxford. Of course, being the arts students we are, we can't do something like this and not document it. So I decided I would write about it on my blog, and Nancy would keep a photo journal.


 Our first cooking date was yesterday, so in the next few days, I'll be updating with a blog post, summarizing our adventure. Check back again soon!

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!

Another Year Has Come and Gone...Goodbye, 2011!

I've been doing some reflecting the past few days - well, the past couple of weeks really - about how I felt about 2011. I can say right off the bat that it definitely wasn't my favourite year, and didn't turn out to be "The Year of Elizabeth...Again". I gave up on that a month or so in and decided I didn't need it to be. I'd save it for the next year. :)

Like 2010, however, 2011 was still a big year of change: change in jobs, living situations, relationships and most of all, change in me. It's funny to look back and think, "This time last year, did I ever expect all the things that have happened to have happened?" This time last year, would I have thought I'd be back living in Newfoundland? Probably not. It wasn't in my plans, but I am glad it happened. There have been a lot of things I've experienced, both good and bad, but it's all added to an eventful year.

And so, enough rambling. Let's do a recap of what 2011 held for this girl:




- Celebrating my 26th Birthday at home with my family and friends in Newfoundland after being away from them for months!

- Getting up at 3am to watch "The Wedding of the Century", the Royal Wedding coverage and ceremony, and having a "Royal Wedding Breakfast" for family and friends!

- Beginning work at one of the most amazing jobs I think I'll ever have: working on a television show for a national television network and meeting some wonderful new friends! 

- Working at CTV definitely had its perks: I got to work the CTV Upfronts and the MMVAs (Much Music Video Awards) and cross paths with lots of amazing musicians, actors and celebrities. It was really neat to see how things work behind the scenes!

- Getting to see Coldplay, one of my favourite bands in concert for the first time, was a real dream come true!








- Having the best weekend of my year with three of my best friends in Toronto. We came from all across the country for 3 days of hilarious chats, exciting wedding dress excursions and lots of dinners and drinks!

- Getting to visit Niagara Falls and Ottawa, two places I haven't been in a long time, to see family and friends before I left Ontario.










- Coming home and beginning work at the place where I started my PR career last year: the best marketing communications agency on the east coast!




So, as you can tell, it's been an eventful year. And after reflecting on all the things I've listed above, maybe it wasn't such a bad year after all!

One of my favourite things to do in life is learn: learn new recipes, learn about a new area of the world, read a new book, visit a new place, try something different. I really believe in living life to the fullest, and I try to practice that in my career and the rest of my life.

2011 was an interesting year, but to be honest, I've been looking forward to 2012 for months, for a number of reasons: My champagne birthday is coming up in March, and since it only happens once in a lifetime, I intend to make it the most memorable birthday of all; one of my best friends is marrying her long-time boyfriend, and her three bridesmaids are myself and our other two friends. A wedding of friends is something to definitely be excited about; I intend to take better care of myself and spend as much time with family and friends as possible, because as I've learned the hard way, you never really know how much time you have left with them.

And so, I can finally say, "So Long, 2011!" You helped me grow and I experience a lot. Here's to 2012, the Year of Elizabeth!

Happy New Year! This will be the best year yet!

"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." - Mark Twain