Our year away in photos (part 2)

Here is part two of my favourite photos from our year away. The first one was a must do, obviously.

Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

Our engraved bottle in Lynchburg, TN

Somewhere on the road in Utah or Arizona (actually not sure!)

At the beach in San Diego, CA

Me, slightly drunk, in New Orleans, LA

If I had to pick one photo - it would be this. On the road, Utah.

Sunset over the Mississippi, Memphis, TN

Beale Street, Memphis, TN

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Japanese Gardens, Portland, OR

View from Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

Portland suburbia in Autumn

Dogsledding in Whitehorse, Yukon

Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, BC

On the road between Banff and Lake Louise, AB

Snowshoeing in Lake Louise - honestly looked like Narnia!

On the ferry back from Vancouver Island, BC

Vancouver, BC

I definitely enjoy scrolling endlessly through my photos from that year. Trying to vicariously live that life again, somehow. I know I mentioned this before, but I honestly can't believe how quick the past year has gone since we got back. I feel like I am scarily hurtling through my mid twenties. Lets not talk about how soon late twenties will be upon me!

If you want to know any more about our travels in North America; advice, information, or just want to be a tad more nosey, here is the travel blog we wrote whilst we were out there. The better posts are written by Aled!

Our year away in photos (part 1)

This is the first of two posts with my favourite photos from our year away travelling America and Canada. I wanted to share a few of these on my blog as it was such an incredible experience. I am sure all my family and friends are sick of me talking about it (yes, stilll, a year after we got back). Hopefully I can do it all again one day. It was hard to choose just 40 to spread across two posts, but I didn't want to bombard the blog with reams of travelling photos, and it's nice to have little highlights like this.

In 2011 and 2012 we backpacked around Canada and America for 5 months and then lived and worked in Vancouver for the rest of the year. I would definitely recommend Canada and America as places to travel around - I want to go back and travel around all the states and provinces we missed!

The quality isn't the best as I had my little point and shoot camera, i'd love to return one day with my DSLR!

Anyway, on to the photos....

View over Lake Huron, Kincardine, Ontario

Looking out over Montreal, Quebec

On the Staten Island Ferry, NYC

Portland Harbour, Maine

On a 19 hour train from Quebec City to Halifax

View from the Rockefeller, NYC

Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia

Tilt shift Boston from the Providence building

Grand Canyon

Bat watching in Austin, TX

Inside The Venetian, Las Vegas

A diner in Nashville, TN

Korean War Memorial, Washington DC

Walking along the beach in Santa Monica, CA

Zion Canyon, Utah

The Vegas sign!

Blowing Rock, North Carolina

Pike Place Market, Seattle

Vancouver, BC - view from Granville Bridge

Snowshoeing in Lake Louise, Alberta with my parents

Currently #2

[Grand Canyon - October 2011]

Thinking about: A weird limbo stage of growing up and "becoming an adult". Now that it is approaching a year since we returned from travelling, I am starting to feel a bit older. (I fully realise that at 25, I am already an adult). I say limbo stage because I don't think I'm fully into that "settled" part of my life (my own choice), and I'd ideally like to backpack around somewhere again (Europe or NZ!). Obviously there are no set ages for anything in life, but I feel like I do fight a constant battle between wanting to grow up and not. In my opinion though, your twenties are for lots of new adventures and experiences that maybe buying a house or having a child would restrict. Let's hope finances will allow another big trip at some point.

Watching: Very late to the party, I have just started watching Game of Thrones and really liking it so far. Can't wait for the last series of Dexter this summer and as always I am still enjoying my guilty pleasure shows, i.e Revenge. Also - I do love a bit of The Apprentice, even if they are all idiots.

Listening to: Next week I am seeing Andrew McMahon and am rather giddy with over excitement, Something Corporate have been one of my favourite bands since I was 16 (Will most likely revert to 16 year old self at the gig). Also still on my commute playlist; the new Frank Turner album, Tape Deck Heart, and some Gabrielle Aplin.

Reading: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I am really enjoying. Hoping to start The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle soon. I have been recommended this book many , many times by my good friend James, but never seem to get round to starting it. If you hadn't guessed, I am awful with books, I need to push myself to read more! In terms of blogs, a few of my favourite daily reads are; Rachel Phipps, Betsy Transatlantically & Incurably Curious.

[Me & Lizzie at her hen party]

Looking forward to: A wedding & a christening! Next bank holiday weekend one of my friends, Lizzie, is getting married (the first one of our friends to get married, makes me feel like I am definitely getting older!) then Aled's nephew is getting christened the day after. Plus it's a four day weekend for me, so that will definitely help me get through work this week!

Researching: London neighbourhoods. It's rather hard to find somewhere that is relatively safe with great atmosphere, good transport links AND cheap(er) houses. Gosh. We've spent a few days checking out some of the places we are considering. Our move date might be postponed a month, so we don't have to properly start looking till June/July. I am just hoping for a smooth, hassle free house/flat hunt - which almost definitely won't happen.

[ This post was inspired by the "Currently" posts over on one of my favourite blogs Sometimes Sweet by Danielle. ]

Life lately

I'm not if anyone reads this, but hello if you are! I keep meaning to post a little more regularly, and hopefully i'll start a better posting routine soon.

I'm currently trying to research different neighbourhoods, as we're moving in with friends in a few months and I am trying to find the perfect location equidistant from all our workplaces. I'm looking forward (and slightly stressed) about starting to view places. Only a year since the last estate agent hassle and I hope things run smoothly.

For now, I thought i'd share a few photos from the past months..

Paris, Je t'aime

Bonjour mes amis!

I went to Paris last week for three days! I love Paris and was so excited to go back. I love France and the French language a lot in general (you could say I am slightly obssessed). Aled & I had booked the week off work ages ago and thought we deserved a bit of a holiday (partly celebrating the fact that we recently both got new jobs!). We went on the Eurostar which was great and such less hassle than flying and being someone who dislikes flying, it will always be a winner for me. We stayed at Hotel Parc Saint Severin, which is a lovely little hotel in the centre of Paris, very near the Notre Dame, which made it perfect for us to walk to a lot of the sights. We spent a great three days visiting all the usual touristy spots and eating our way through mountains of French food and wine. I'd like to return soon and do a lot more non-touristy things. I'd also hope it would be warmer on our return as it was very cold last week and I felt rather frozen most of the time. So much that we ended up returning the hotel in the late afternoons just to warm up for a few hours! The greyness of the weather definitely translates in the photos. I did love Paris in the snow though, très romantic. We actually had some blue skies on the last day which meant we could go up the Eiffel Tower and not have a very limited view which was lucky. I only managed it to the second platform (with a fear of heights I thought I might not get up it at all to be honest!) and Aled went all the way to the top and took a few photos zoomed in of the roads and buildings that I am planning to tilt shift at some point.

I'm not too happy with my photos at the moment, my DSLR is very old and think the quality is fading and auto focus slightly broken. Though I will have the make the most of it as not really sure when I will be able to afford a new one in the near future! Living in London definitely prevents saving of any kind. I'm also hoping to a find a photoraphy course I can attend as I really want to develop my photography skills. I really enjoy taking photos but I hardly know how to use most of the features on my camera!

Hoping the weather here will take a turn for the warmer soon. It's obviously no secret that England is had slightly miserable weather and it has never really bothered me that much although at the moment I feel a bit like I don't remember what it is like to be in the sun!

Definitely hoping for a warmer European holiday in the summer - we are thinking Barcelona - any recommendations for hotels/restaurants/sights? Gracias!