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.

I'm Picky about Paint Colours

When moving into a new place all your own, the prospect of shopping for new furniture, picking out paint colours and decorating your walls seems pretty exciting, right? Right.

Riiiiight.

For someone who likes to think she knows how to match colours, and knows what goes with what, let's just say that the task of picking out paint colours for my apartment was one that was pretty overwhelming. I wish I were kidding. 

Like the colour beige, for example: I knew I wanted a beige colour for my living room and halls, but I couldn't find that perfect colour, the one I'd been thinking of and persistently looking for. And then, when you do find a shade you like, apparently it won't actually look like that when you put in on the walls. And then, you have to think about lighting - what will your chosen colour look like in the daylight? What about in the lamplight? Not to mention the type of paint, and the finish, and the texture...so many questions! Too many questions. Frustrated and overwhelmed, I gave up...but not completely.

You see, it's handy to have friends that are creative. I'm creative in some ways, but picking colours just isn't one. I left that to the professionals. One professional in particular: my best friend.

She just completed an interior design program and now, not only is Meghan naturally talented when it comes to colour and lighting, space planning, window treatments and more, she now has the credentials to back her up. This girl knows her stuff, as you can tell from her blog and all her design ideas!

So instead of pulling all my hair out, I grabbed a handful of different blues and beiges and brought them to the expert, who promptly pulled two paint chips out of the pile and said, "Here. Do you like these?" And of course, I did, since she knows me so well. And that was that, problem solved.

And so, voila, I give you...my living room colours:

So exciting, I know. ;) I'll bet you wanted to see the finished product? Don't worry, that's coming in a blog post in the next couple of weeks!

Oh, and by the way - I got so frustrated with choosing colours, I used the beige alllll through the halls, living room and half the dining room. The kitchen, bathroom and other half of the dining room are the blue colour. After a while, I just couldn't take another visit to the Paint Shop, staring at paint chips for 30 minutes, trying to figure out what went with what, and I couldn't bear to bother poor Meghan again. 

I'll be back next week with another post about the trials and tribulations of that pesky chore: furniture shopping. 

Have a great week!

Move = Complete. Apartment = Amazing.

I've been back in Toronto for about 2 weeks now, and after a stressful move I'm pretty much settled into the new apartment. It wasn't an easy journey, but we made it!

When Heather and I began our apartment hunt back in the summer, we both knew we wanted to live downtown, as neither of us is from Toronto and wanted to have that "downtown" experience. It took time, as these things usually do, but Heather came across a gem that we couldn't pass up.

The location of our new home is so amazing, it really couldn't be better. And not only is the location great, the house itself is absolutely gorgeous. Beautifully restored, the townhouse is much nicer than we expected!

The move itself was stressful, as there were lots of delays and mix-ups with the moving company, but a few days later, I finally had most of my things in my new home. As I'd never really moved before, when packing up my things from residence back in May, I didn't realize how difficult and time-consuming it actually is. I've always heard from friends or family who have moved around in the past that it can be draining, frustrating and annoying, but I didn't really realize HOW draining, frustrating and annoying it really is. After this move back to Toronto, I don't really want to move for a while!

Now that I'm settled in and slowly working into a new routine, the next thing on the "To Do" List? Find a job.

Wish me luck!

I'm huntin' me an apartment...wish me luck!

For the past few months, I've been frequenting websites like craigslist, kijiji and viewit.ca in search of an apartment for myself and my friend Heather. (Heather's not been lazy, she's been looking too!) Coming from St. John's, and having lived at home my whole life, (except for a term in England) I never had to deal with renting an apartment. To be completely honest, I really don't know much about it; I barely knew where to begin looking!

So, I did what I always do when I want to know something: I Googled it. (What we did before Google, I just don't know.) I found a number of different websites that would let me search for apartments, including those listed above. I thought this was a great first step, but I soon learned that my search would be more difficult than expected.

For example: it's very convenient that the websites list the nearest intersection that an apartment is located, but for someone new to the city (aka: Me) those intersections mean squat. A lot of the streets I have never heard of, so everything was checked out on Google maps.

Another factor to consider when trying to find a place to live in a city you know so little about is the neighbourhood. I know so little about where a good area to live in Toronto is, so I'm always looking on my trusty Google Maps to see where places like "The Annex" or "Yorkville" are. While in Toronto a few weeks ago, Heather and I, along with our future roommate Brittany, checked out an apartment just east of Yonge and Dundas, but it wasn't for us. Thankfully, the apartment wasn't for us, as apparently the area is not so nice, as I later found out.

Our needs for an apartment are not that unreasonable (I think): It has to be close to the subway line, we'd prefer a building, and we want to live downtown. For me, personally, I've always wanted to live downtown in a big city, and as I'm not sure how long I'll be living in Toronto, I want to really get the experience of living downtown.

As I'm in Newfoundland for the summer, I've been doing my hunting on craigslist and then emailing my finds to Heather so she can potentially visit them in person. We're still looking, so wish us luck, and if you know of any great locations where I should be looking, or you know of an apartment, please, don't hesitate to tell me! I'm welcome to anything at this point!

Have a happy week!

-Elizabeth

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I know when people decide to begin blogging, they usually have a purpose to do so, and I have a number of friends from my PR world who are regular or semi-regular bloggers, each with their own unique reason for posting their thoughts online. When I signed up for this blog for school last year, I was really gung-ho on starting a blog, writing fantastic posts and having people comment and fawn over my amazing observations or what not, and updating it regularly.

That didn't really happen.

As I soon realized, you really DO need a reason to blog, and I just hadn't found my reason yet. Every blue moon, I might write a post about something that's struck a chord with me. But my first thought doesn't turn to, "I've gotta blog about that. That would make the PERFECT blog post." Usually I don't think about blogging at all, except to think, "Jeez, I wish I could keep a regular blog like my friends Alanna at the A List, or Amanda at Not a Model". I do realize however, while I'm now in the process of applying for internships and forced to take a hard look at the person I'm portraying through my online presence, that if I'm going to advertise that I have a blog, then I better actually keep it active.

I remember reading somewhere that the more active your blog is, the more readers you'll gain. And I can understand this...I check my friends blogs every few days for new posts, because they're faithful with updating. I haven't been faithful, so really, probably NO one reads my blog! (If you do, thanks!) Why would anyone think to keep checking a blog that hasn't been updated in a few weeks or months? I wouldn't.

So I got to thinking...what's my reason to blog? What in my life would be important enough, special enough, engaging enough (at least for me) to take the time to write about? And then it hit me, and admittedly I feel slightly dumb when I realized it....the header on my main page "We're Not In Newfoundland Anymore", talking about my transition from small town Newfoundland to big city Toronto. That's unique to everyone else in my blogosphere.

And so, from now on, I'll be updating my blog with posts about my quest to find an apartment in a city that I really still am new to; my hunt for an internship at a company that I'm hoping I'll love; trying to build a social circle in a place where I have little family and even fewer friends, and; attempting to really make a home for myself in a brand new place, all on my own.

It's a little (or really, a whole lot) daunting....but I think I'm up to the challenge. Happy reading! :)