in which I go to Bermuda, then don't

For a total of 15 minutes yesterday, I was going to go on a last minute business trip to Bermuda and New York. And by "last minute" I mean it would have entailed leaving this Sunday for a week of industry presentations and client meetings. (and perhaps some stolen time on the beach?)

But then it all came crashing down on me, as the guy whose spot I was supposed to be taking informed me that his ticket was non-transferable.

So now I'm staying in London instead, where I will be looking at pictures of pink sandy beaches over pints of beer with the Wendover crew.

look ma! I made my blog pretty!

I'm working hard right now... really... just took a little break from PR work to play around with the different backgrounds on blogger and voila!

I rock.

That is all.

splish splash for social media

We had a seminar in social media for PRs at work last week. Before you start to yawn and fall asleep, no it really wasn't that bad.

The presenter showed us this video afterwards. I've watched it again because:

1. this is what presentations should be like - funny, passionate, casual... not reading off a powerpoint

2. who doesn't like whales? Especially ones with the name Mr. Splashy Pants?

3. we all like greenpeace - they do good stuff

4. the speaker is kinda cute in a dorky way

crossing off the bucket list in Brighton

Yesterday I made the trek down to Brighton - Britain's favourite seaside town. What started off as a gorgeous and sunny day in London was transformed into cloudy and overcast in Brighton. My exact words upon meeting Lena at Brighton's train station was: "It's fucking cold, we're going shopping".

Things didn't really turn out as planned.

Instead we met up with Cate the Intern and her two friends, and strolled around Brighton's rocky beach. Yes rocks. Someone in Brighton didn't get the memo, because instead of soft sand, we were treading on sharp stabbing stones. And there really is no graceful way to walk on those beaches in flip flops. Either you take them off and walk gingerly on top of said sharp rocks, or you walk with the flip flops on, pausing every few steps to shake out a few stones that get caught inside your shoe.

Case in point: Cate the Intern trying to make her way down a very slippery slope on the "beach"



A visit to Brighton wouldn't be complete without checking out the extremely tacky Brighton pier. Complete with rickety roller coasters, midway games with those scary looking plush toys as prizes and yes, cotton candy, it brought me back to my childhood summers hanging out at CNE with friends.

But I digress, this blog post was titled 'crossing off the bucket list in brighton' and that's exactly what I did. Crossed off one thing on my bucket list, which was ride a mechanical bull.

Unfortunately, in my mind, I would have had better luck on this bull than I did in reality. I got three tries on this bull, and how long did I last in total? 9 bleeding seconds. Shameful really. Oh, and I had issues getting onto the bull... much to the amusement of all the on-lookers. In fact, I can safely say that I made a complete ass of myself in front of some total strangers. But hey, I rode a mechanical bull, thus crossing off one more item on this list.

Apparently the gods felt that I hadn't been humiliated enough though, as they then decided a bird should use my hair as target practice. And it had good aim...

A photo essay of the last few weeks of my life

Yes, I know... I royally suck when it comes to updating. Life has been wonderfully and unexpectedly busy the last few weeks. I've spent time with old friends, rekindled new friendships, worked hard, played hard, relaxed in the sun, ate too much food and generally have been enjoying my summer.

Here are a few photos of the last few weeks....

Reunited with the best Quad-mates from Baillie House for Caroline's wedding!



Made a new friend, in the form of Tobi, the daschaund who adored me for the first weekend, then promptly dumped me for a chew toy.... hmmpphh.. boys.



Then I broke a few plates to celebrate Fraulein and B-man's coming marriage - now there's nothing more cathartic then just smashing a box of ceramic plates one by one onto the pavement - I highly recommend it



Fast forward to the day of the wedding the next week...

I managed to redeem myself by drinking an entire stein of beer by myself. Living in London has built up my tolerance whilst simultaneously deteriorating my liver. But yes, for prides' sake, I finished the entire thing, liver be damned.



I took it upon myself to photograph Caroline getting ready for the wedding, these two shots are my favourites...






Following the whirlwind two weeks that was Fraulein and Bman's wedding...

...I ran another half marathon in St. Albans. Note to self, rolling hills of the English countryside are lovely only when you aren't running up them.



Then there was my orchestra concert - where my lovely friends showed up hammered and ate food off the ground... (don't ask)





And finally, I celebrated being Canadian - because who doesn't love us eh?



More to come...

Happy London Anniversary - one day late

Drum roll please, and maybe some confetti and party hats because June 15, 2010 (or rather 15 June 2010 as they write it over here) is the day, one year ago, that I arrived here in London, armed with my worldly possessions crammed into two suitcases.

Never thought in a million years that I'd still be here, but god it's been a fun year!

My friends here in London are really what have made my time so memorable, they've become my family in this amazingly cool city and I don't think I would have lasted the last 12 months without them.

Now that I have 11.5 months left on my work visa, I'll be looking at my options to extend my stay across the pond for just a little bit longer.

why I'm not allowed to build Ikea furniture alone

Apologies for the really long delay in posting - it's been an insane three or so weeks of traveling, weddings, work...

But I just had to share this... proof of my 'shit that was stupid' moments - because believe you me, I have lotsa them.

Now I was actually quite proud of the fact that I built this bookshelf entirely on my own (aside from a little Skype advice). It wasn't until I put the entire thing upright and went to place books on the shelves that realization of my error dawned on me



...which was followed quickly by a few expletives and referring back to the manual, where I discovered that I would need to go back to step 2 to fix the error.

And at that point, I figured the bookshelf serves its purpose and I shrugged it off.

Now, time to tackle my new Ikea table.