the past few days

This photo makes me dream more and more of Brighton,
and England in general...

Why hello there!

I'm sitting here in bed thinking over the past few days. I've been busy working, meeting up with Nadia about England, and resting from crazy days. It doesn't seem to be anything compared to December where I only had one day off other than Christmas holidays, but still!

On Thursday afternoon, my UK visa was issued to me and sent to my front door. I'm not going to lie, I fan-girled a bit just about getting my visa! How am I going to live in sanity in England with everything 1D, Sherlock, and tea going on around me? Oh dear me...

I've somehow managed to get myself back into a horrible routine of not waking up until 10 or 11 on my days off. It's making me a lot lazier when actually getting to work on days I'm supposed to go in! I don't like it. Bad, Maddie, bad! I was planning on waking up early today, but I've been feeling pretty sick the past few days. And after the Neo Citran I took last night hit me, I was out like a light!

I made my first Youtube video which was an insane step for me! You can read my last post about it... so nerve-wracking getting in front of that camera, though! But I've been receiving some lovely comments from other Youtubers on it, giving me lots of hope for the future of me on Youtube, haha!

My Dad and I bought tickets to see Owl City and Echosmith in Spokane, WA at the Knitting Factory. We also booked our room at the Davenport Hotel for the night before my planned flight to England! It's scary how close the move is getting... wow! My younger sister, Clare, is in love with Owl City, so it will for sure be a great weekend! Not to mention the massive brunch at the Davenport on Sunday morning, mmmmm.

I spent Saturday and Sunday working at my Dad's café and it was crazy busy! We've had so many people in town the past week for ski races and other events. Sunday was insane, just three of us and our biggest Sunday yet! I ended up coming home afterwards, immediately stepping into the hot bath, lit some candles, and started reading Pride and Prejudice. I then broke Whole30 (I've been doing it a second time with my Mom, we completed it really well last October!) and had a bowl of ice-cream  I had never had such an insane, hectic, frustrating day at work.

And today, I slept in, went to the café to talk to my Dad about my flights (we're booking them tonight), & picked up Insurgent and three DVDs from the library (The Brothers Grimm, Downton Abbey season 1,  and In Her Shoes). Afterwards, I met up with Nadia and we looked into homesharing with some other people our age in Brighton. Phew! At least now I feel like I had a semi-productive day off. Somewhat.

Well, time for dinner and then I think I'll pop in one of the movies!

Madelaine

-- photo from Pinterest page found here

Friday Favourites!

Hello, hello everyone who may stumble across my little blog! Today is Friday and I think to celebrate this joyous day, I'll tell you some of my favourite things from this week! Oh, and a sidenote, Fridays usually aren't my favourite days of the week anymore because I tend to work weekends. Mondays however seem to be my normal day off. Yeah, I like Mondays over Fridays now.

1. Pitch Perfect - I know I'm a little late on the band wagon, but seriously? This movie is everything I love rolled into one. Cheesy romance, fantastic comedy, and then the best soundtrack! And believe me, soundtracks are 1/2 of what makes a movie for me, so I've got a massive list of favourites! This one is definitely at the top! Anyways, I finally watched the movie a couple days ago and I'm in love. I need to buy a copy asap so I can watch it every single week. Fat Amy is far to fabulous, Jesse is way too sweet, and Aubrey needs a good pitch slap every once in a while. It really is pitch perfect! Pun inteded.
   
2. Going back to work - True, true, a weird one. But I've been working so much for the past few months, that even when I was away for Christmas holidays, I almost missed it! You get so used to the routine, and I missed all the girls I work with as well.
   
3. Reading - Yup, hadn't read in a long time and then this week I sat down and read Divergent (I'm so behind on these band wagons) in one day. Man it felt great! I've now compiled a massive list that I want to complete: 50 Books to Read in 2013! PHEW!
   
4. Bloglovin' - I never realized how many blogs I read until now. And it's way easier now that I follow them all on there and can read the updates easier. Why didn't I find out about this till now?
   
5. The "12 Days of Christmas" app - I tried to remember to download the free gifts from iTunes every day last Christmas... definitely didn't remember. So this year I decided to get the app, now every morning I get the little reminder to download my freeeeeee stuff. Yay free things! I missed the Sherlock episode though, sigh. I didn't have enough space on my laptop or phone to download it onto. Grr.

Well, I hope you're all having a fantabulous Friday! Whether you're going out with friends or just relaxing at home, make it a great one.

Madelaine

-- top photo from Pinterest page found here

good morning!

Good morning readers! I thought I'd write a quick, little post before heading off to work. And in case you're interested, I currently have two jobs. The one I'm going to today is at my Dad's café. All of us who work there are baristas, cooks, waitresses, etc. And since I live in a little ski town, this is our buuuusy time of the year! Winter is here and everyone is looking to come in for a hot drink and some soup to warm them up. Take a little look at some photos I've taken at work! And don't forget to have a fabulous day!

Madelaine

My view on my walk to work everyday.
This was taken before the big dump of snow we had, but it's beautiful none the less!

My Dad's delicious pizza on Pizza Friday! I named this one: the POW!
It has pears, caramelized onions, toasted walnuts, goat's cheese and a balsamic reduction.
This one's on a gluten-free crust too, yummy!

Beautiful snow falling onto our back deck at work.

A little but of latté art.

Mmm, these blackberry and white chocolate scones are to die for!