Friday 22 June 2012

ABC award


Big thanks to Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker who gifted me with this ABC (Awesome Blog Content) award. She even made an awesome ABC cake to go with her award post! So without further ado - here's 26 alphabet related facts about me! 

A - America - my one true love! I often think I was born in the wrong country.  I'm not really a fan of most of our quintessentially English desserts like fruit cake, eccles cakes, mince pies, roly poly, steamed puddings or custard.  I'm also not keen on how reserved we English are - I like to make friends wherever I go and in America that was super easy because everyone's always chatting to you and striking up conversations.  England and I have also fallen out in epic proportions over the past few years due to this so called thing that we call 'summer'.  I think I've outgrown England and one day I hope to achieve my dream of residing Stateside permanently! 
B - Birthday! Today is my birthday and I share it with one of my best friends, Laura, so with a load of our Harpenden friends from our school days we are heading to London this evening for Zoo Lates - I am ridunculously excited! a little for the animals but mainly for the food trucks! haha

The birthday girls (we also share a love of cupcakes!)

C - Coconut - did you really ever think it could be anything else! I spend most of my days dreaming about how I can get more coconut into my life! Unfortunately for Ros, because she's not a coconut fan at all! 
D - Dissertation! I keep thinking in my head my masters is done.  I've moved away from Wales now, but the truth is I have a dissertation to write that's due in at the end of the summer - no fun at all! 
E - Eton Mess - maybe thinking about it there is one English dessert I find pretty tasty! 
F - Family makes the world go round! I am so grateful for my lovely family:

The Jones Family at my sister's wedding

The Braithwaite Family at my wedding

G - Gigs, growing up I saw hundreds of bands live.  My gig going has dwindled in the past few years, especially living in Wales this past year because surprise surprise no decent bands come to Bangor! but I'm excited to start going again, there is something so special about hearing your favourite songs played live whilst singing along with hundreds of people around you, strangers, but united together in your love for that band! 
H - Harpenden - where I grew up, it will always hold a special place in my heart! Sooo many happy memories of living there and I even have a job interview on Monday there and could end up working at my old primary school which would be interesting! 
I - Instagram - my days of instagramming fun are nearly over because we're selling our tablet on eBay at the moment and I don't have an iphone - booo! 
J -  Joy.  I like to think of myself as an optimistic person and look for the good in everything.  The prophet of our church, Thomas S. Monson, gave an awesome talk about just this and told us all that we should 'Find Joy in the Journey' - I am living my life doing this :)


K - Kings of Leon - they can literally do no wrong! I've been a mega fan since I was 17, I absolutely cannot wait for their next album...in my opinion they just get better and better! Every day is better with a little Kings of Leon in it! 
L - London - one of the coolest cities in the world.  Growing up it was only ever a 20 minute train ride away so we went often and even now I love discovering new areas and new markets.  Last weekend I was there for my sister's birthday and we ate at Granger & Co in Westbourne Grove - amazing amazing food, I urge you all to try it! 
M - Meat Market, Covent Garden - I am dying to try it! Some people have said it's the best burgers in London and also that it's similar to In-N-Out which makes it a must visit in my book! 
N - Northern Ireland - where my Dad is from, and possibly why I'm as talkative as I am! It's in the genes!
O - Olney is a quaint little town outside of Milton Keynes.  It's where my parents moved us the summer I turned 18. I wasn't impressed about being stuck in this town where I knew no-one but as luck would have it there was a South African boy called Byron Braithwaite also living in that little town! 8 years later, Olney might just now be one of my very favourite places! 
Q - Question time - I want you to tell me (in the comments below) where is the best place you have ever travelled to?
R - Root Beer Floats - I have had more than my fair share this summer and I think the world is a better place because of them! 


S - South Africa - a beautiful country.  My mom and husband are both from here so we have tons of South African family between us which I love! I am also in love with South African accents and love to strike up conversations with South Africans whenever I hear an accent! 
T -  Turks and Caicos - a beautiful paradisical island where we were lucky enough to live.  If anyone ever finds themself contemplating a holiday there I would highly recommend it! Amazing gourmet food, breathtaking views and beautiful beaches all to yourself! 


U - Underwater - we got to do tons of snorkelling and scuba diving whilst we lived in Turks and Caicos.  Some of the marine life we got to see underwater was quite amazing!! 


V -  Vancouver! Less than 2 months to go now...it is getting very exciting! I can't wait to have some new adventures! 
W - World - travelling is one of my favourite things to do.  I really truly want to see as much of the world as I can.  Come September we'll have lived in 4 different countries over the past 2 years: England, Turks and Caicos, Wales and Canada! I've also travelled to 19 other countries but there are SO many more I want to see! 
X - Xtreme - I have kayaked down the river Dordogne in a thunderstorm (not out of choice!) played with baby lions in Mauritius (yes I kid you not those are babies, I was expecting something a lot smaller!), dabbled in rock climbing, mountain hiking, parasailing, skiing, water skiing, white water rafting and experienced a hurricane! 


Y - Youngest.  I am the youngest of 4 girls.  Having 3 older sisters is awesome, we all get on so well and the clothes/shoe/make up sharing that can happen between us is pretty cool! 
Z - Zoo Lates - if you want something fun to do on a Friday night this summer, definitely check this out! Face Painting, Carousels, Silent Disco, Animals galore and of course all the tastiest food trucks London has to offer! 

Now I'm passing this award on to five of my favourite bloggers to join in the fun:

21 comments:

  1. Oooh I'm from N/Ireland too - where is your dad from? In reply to your question... hmm... haven't been many places but liked Turkey the best :) x

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    1. Cool, I've never been to Turkey before! My dad is from Portadown - where abouts are you from?

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  2. Wow - what a great list! I feel I know you a little better now. We've lived quite close to each other a few times it seems. Those cupcakes in the first pic are pink! Your question - best place visited would have to be Chicago - my first visit to the US. I was blown away and instantly wanted to go back.

    Happy Birthday too - have a wonderful time tonight!

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    1. Thanks Katie, I did have so much fun at the zoo! I've heard great things about Chicago, my sister went there with her job to a massive food festival and she fell in love with it too! I've never been myself but am sure I will see it at some point along the way of trying to visit all 50 states in my lifetime!

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  3. Happy Birthday Gem! Hope you have an amazing time at Zoo Lates and eat your body weight in cake :)

    Thank you so much for the award! I may take a while to get round to doing it though (need to think of interesting facts and wade my way through other unfinished blog posts!)but I will do it. Your question - I'm not very well travelled I must admit,bit of a homegirl, but I loved my holiday in Munich a couple of years ago.

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    1. I've never been to Munich! I went to Frankfurt but I was pretty small and don't remember too much so I definitely want to go back to Germany and eat my body weight in sausage and kuchen! Zoo lates was completely amazing! and I did have plenty of cake so it was all good!

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  4. Ooh! I've never received this award before. Thank you! And, great list you made here. I'll get working on my post soon!

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  5. I hope my comment goes through this time. But, thank you for passing this award onto me, as it's one I haven't received yet. And thanks for sharing your list!

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  6. Wow, Gem, that's an amazing ABC! There are so many fab things you've done! Thanks for passing the award on to me - I think mine will be very boring by comparison though!

    And in response to Q? The best place I have travelled to is definitely the States. I've been twice (so far). I did a coach tour with my mum many years ago which went to New York, Boston, up into Canada, then over to Niagara, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Washington. Was ace! Then did Florida a few years ago with Mike and the boys - Orlando and the Gulf coast. We're going back next year and I can't wait!

    And Happy Birthday - have a fab time! :) x

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    1. Wow Susie, what an awesome coach tour! that sounds so cool! I would absolutely love to see Niagra! I've been to New York and D.C before but it was about 7 years ago now so I'm desperate to go back for some more American fun! Thanks for the birthday wishes!!

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  7. Happy belated birthday!! Hope you had a wonderful time - I wanted to go to Zoo Lates too but couldnt make it as I arranged to meet a friend visiting from California. Loved reading your ABC's - so much more interesting than mine! I can see a lot of similarities and some differences most noticeably C! I'm not sure I could pick a favourite place as they've all been great but America definitely ranks highly in the top 5 :)

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    1. Yes America is certainly in my top 5 too! but of course you could have guessed that! That's a shame you missed out on zoo lates, it was really fun but a little disorganised...if you were going for the animal part you might be disappointed but as I was mostly going for the food I wasn't! haha

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  8. Ps hop over to my blog for a little birthday surprise :) http://themorethanoccasionalbaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/malted-chocolate-cake.html

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    1. Thanks!! What an awesome birthday surprise! they just kept coming!

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  9. I love these ABCs, they're so interesting!! Happy birthday for Friday...I hope you had a good day? Vancouver sounds so exciting...are you heading over for work? :-)

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    1. Thanks Laura. I am ridiculously excited about Vancouver now...it's going to be here before I know it! My husband is going as his study abroad year so he will be at university there and I'm planning to find a full time job to support all the fun road trips we will hopefully be going on!

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  10. Congratulations on the blog away, and happy birthday! How cool that you share it with your bestie :)

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    1. Thanks Jamie-Lee, it is pretty awesome! we always have the most fun getting to celebrate it together!

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  11. Congrats on your well deserved blog award and hope you had a fab birthday! A great list of facts too! One of my all time loves is gig going too but I don't do nearly enough of it myself any more either, life just gets in the way aswell! In answer to your question... I'm not that well travelled but one of my favourite places I've ever been was Monaco, a great combo of history/scenery aswell as being very modern and immaculately clean, a great place to people watch!

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    1. Ooh yeah I've heard Monaco is meant to be great, never been myself though! I know, it's so sad- we need to start making more time for gig going though because it's too much fun not to! hehe

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