Fifty random facts

To introduce my new blog design and in the spirit of sharing, I thought I would put together a five-part fifty random facts series. As it turns out, thinking up fifty random facts about yourself is not as easy as you would think. So to make it easier and add a bit of a twist I asked Adam to think up ten random facts about me, as well as my best friend, Sara Jane. I thought it would be interesting and funny to find out ten facts about me from the point of view of two people who know me best. The result was both funny and embarrassing, but we'll get to that...

Here we go with the first ten random facts about me, thought up by me:

1. I sing in the shower, mostly country music and only when no one is home because I'm shy. But it helps me think and sometimes when Adam is home and I need to think out a problem I will hum quietly to myself while shampooing away. I've been known to leap out of the shower, wrap myself in a towel and cry "I've got it!" when I've solved something especially tricky.

2. I'm pretty sure that I'm part plant and produce energy through photosynthesis, because without sunlight I start to wither. This cold spring is making me wilt.

3. I have a very poor short term memory but very good long term memory. For example, I can't remember what I thought to put on my shopping list five minutes ago, but I can tell you what outfit my teacher was wearing on my first day of school.

4. When I was young I actually planned on joining the circus. I mean, I seriously planned for it as my future career. I trained at a circus school for several years and made it into a few circus shows here and there, but that all went out the window when I discovered horses.

5. I have always wanted a tattoo, but have never been able to gather the courage to get one. Maybe this year will be the year? Probably not.

6. Ok this is an embarrassing one: when I was 13 I shaved my head. I don't know, I guess I thought I was bad ass  Because I was pretty scrawny for my age I just ended up looking like a boy in a skirt when I was wearing my school uniform.

7. When I was born, my parents were trying to figure out what to name me for the first few days so they just referred to me as Pinky. Thankfully that one didn't stick. Now everyone in my family claims to have come up with my name and I've never been able to figure out the truth how I ended up being called Freya.

8. One thing I can't stand is pre-prepared fruit salad, like the kind you can get in plastic tubs at the supermarket. All that bruised, overripe fruit stewing in its own juices - no thank you!

9. Romola Garai is my favourite actor, I have such a girl crush on her. And Cary Mulligan too. I don't usually buy magazines but I will if they are on the cover.

10. I can read and write Arabic. Just don't ask me what any of it means, I'm still working on that part.

Something's a bit different - can you tell?

I'm so excited to share my new blog design! I've been dreaming about it for a long time and it's taken a while to get it right - but finally it's here and I couldn't be happier.

For a while now I've been craving a simpler layout, something lighter and easy on the eyes; something a bit more representative of my style. Since I bought my new camera I've been falling more and more in love with photography and I've also managed to finally get photoshop, so I'm happy to now have a layout that will let my content shine through.

All the hard work was done by Savannah over at Maiedae - that girl has so much talent. I'm not kidding when I say I sent her a photo of my favourite mug along with a link to a beautifully coloured ball of yarn and said "can you make a header out of this?". And she did! Amazing.

Everything is much the same as it was, you can find my travel, just a moment, and video series up there on the left below the social media icons. All my sponsors are below that. And then my instagram feed.

I've got lots of fun posts planned for the coming weeks, including the long awaited story about how Adam and I met. I've got a few giveaways planned over the summer, some of which I can only post when I go to Canada in July. Also some fun adventures on the horizon which I'm so looking forward to sharing.

So... what do you think?

Just a moment - three

Just a moment from last week, from Istanbul to Spitalfields...

Bare feet in the Blue Mosque, Istanbul. One of the most magnificent buildings I have ever been inside.

"Uno, dos, tres, ALOHA!" This guy made me laugh so hard, and gave me free tea for sitting on my own.

"Chicken Dust Spa - the ultimate deep feather cleaning treatment. All chickens welcome" at Hackney City Farm.

Taking my brother for oysters on Colombia Road. He was visiting this week from Toronto and I got to show him around the neighbourhood which was so much fun.

Don't you think London has got to be one of the best cities for street art? It's always changing and never looks trashy - well, almost never.

My favourite was visiting the Blue Mosque. What was the best thing that happened to you last week, if you could just pick one moment?

Frolic

What a week I have had! If you follow me on instagram you will know that I have been off on a trip to Istanbul. It was such an amazing city and I can't wait to go through the photos and do some posts about it all.

For the time being, this post is a bit about a lack of self control. While Adam's mum was visiting and we went to Kew, I couldn't resist a cheeky frolic amongst the bluebells. I'm pretty sure frolicking is against house rules, but I was careful not to tread on any and I only frolicked through previously well-frolicked paths.

I suppose it must have been something in the air, I just couldn't help myself! It's very important in life to never pass up an opportunity for a good frolic.

Very true I think - a thought for Friday

{from}

Looking back, most of the things in my life I would consider successes, most of what I am proud of accomplishing, are things I have done after making the decision to not play by someone else's rules.

In cases where I can see a clear line from start to finish and how I came to be where I am today, I can point out where I would have been lead off that path if I hadn't just said "yes" because I wanted something - and if I had said no instead, because I felt like I didn't deserve it or believed people when they said I wasn't up to the task.

"Say yes, and you'll figure it out afterwards..." - the story of my life.

The storm outside

I love stormy days spent indoors, they remind me of the best of times. Cozying up around a game with my family when I was little in Bermuda while a tropical storm rages outside. Going swimming in the rain with my friends in northern Ontario. Getting caught in the city and being soaked to the bone and yet still sticky in the heat of Hong Kong. And now working through fun projects with a cup of tea in hand while the sky darkens in London.

Summer storms make the good memories come flooding in, helped along by a conversation with one of my oldest and greatest friends. It has been a good afternoon.

Kew

I still can't believe this past weekend marked my first visit to Kew Gardens, but Adam's mum was in town and we all decided it was the perfect sunny day outing - we were not disappointed. Over the weekend we went on quite a few adventures, but Kew was definitely my favourite.

I love gardens, especially ones with hot houses, huge trees and long rambling vistas with wildflowers scattered here and there, perfect for strolling. I have a feeling that now I have discovered how amazing Kew really is, I'll be spending a lot more time there in the future.

Just a Moment - two

Some wonderful moments from the past week. Posting a little late because, well, bank holiday... you know.

When you walk down a street that has three or four trees in blossom and that's all you can see. It's like there's been a snow storm and every free surface is covered in pink. Why can't London just look like this all year long?

I'm not sure what these flowers are, I would say they are snapdragons but I'm pretty sure that's not what I was told by the guy who sold them to me - of course I can't remember what he called them. Whatever they are, they've been brightening up my bedside table all week.

These swans waiting patiently for their eggs to hatch. One was tending the eggs while the other was pulling down rushes to add to the nest (all the while another little bird was stealing them for his own smaller nest when the swans weren't looking).

I can't believe how excited I get for our weekend bike rides, it's like being a little girl again and hardly being able to wait until I get to play with my new toy.

Lucky Chip cheese burger. Oh goodness, I live for these. They are so good! Adam has to ration them because if it were left up to me we would eat Lucky Chip burgers at least four nights a week!

Come on in and have a look around

I've been going on about my new garden for ages so I thought it was about time I did a little tour. Enjoy!

Without Rhyme or Reason

{Full Moon Silhouettes from Mark Gee on Vimeo}

So much in life seems to have no rhyme or reason. What we find beautiful, what we find ugly. Who we fall in love with and when, how or why. How we have ended up where we sit right now, today - sometimes it seems like a collection of random events which bring us to a moment in time that passes by all too quickly.

My days can feel like that sometimes. Blurred and random. How I feel about my life, my day, myself - it's all subject to change at any given moment.

But one moment is always the same. One moment can always be relied upon to keep coming round again and again. In that moment I am always content.

Every morning is the same. My alarm goes off at the same time as Adam's and we lay in bed for a bit trying to pull ourselves out of sleep. I always roll over and try to absorb some of his warmth before jumping out into the chilly morning air and we always lay there for longer than we should, preparing ourselves for the day. He always says "do you need to use the bathroom?", even though he knows I do, but that's my cue to brush my teeth and wash my face before he takes a shower. But I always say "no" and just lie there, clinging on to him a little tighter. A few minutes later he pretends to make a move to get up and I leap out of bed so I don't miss my bathroom spot, event though I know I won't. Taking a moment to decide just how freezing I am after the warmth of the blanket and wonder if I'll need slippers for the bathroom tiles, I make my way down the hall. After doing all I need to do, I go back into the bedroom and before Adam can get out of bed for his turn in the shower I jump under the covers again. He moves over a little so that I can curl up oh his side of the bed and have one last little bit of morning cuddle before he realises he's going to miss his train if he doesn't hurry up.

The rest of the day is sometimes a coin toss, and how I feel about how the coin lands is determined by... what? I've never really understood. But that one reliable moment eases the difficulty of all the unreliable moments that come or go without rhyme or reason throughout the day.