In the fall of 2009 I up and moved to York, England. After graduating university I decided I wanted an exciting adventure, and I got one for 18 months. At times, thought, it was the complete opposite of exciting—working two part time retail jobs between six and seven days a week—but they were still some of the most fun years of my life. My first experience paying rent (before I’d only ever lived in a dorm or my parents’ house), cooking for myself every day (no more meal plan or cafeteria), and basically learning to be completely independent (that’s not to say I was 100% successful, 100% of the time). During my 18 months in York, I lived in two houses, had a combination of 10 roommates, four different jobs, and a handful of excursions out of town. I left when my visa dictated, and luckily my heart agreed. For anyone considering living abroad, I recommend 18 months as the perfect length of time. One year is too short, you won’t be ready to leave, and two years might be just long enough that you start resenting being away from home and missing everything that’s happening there. (And life at home really does go on without you; both my brother and best friend got engaged while I was away.) You don’t want your experienced to be soured by that.

I started this blog as a birthday gift for my mum, as a way to keep her (and anyone else who was interested) in touch with my life away from home. Since moving back to Canada (and Toronto) in May 2011, I’ve kept blogging. And I plan to continue blogging until I run out of things to say.

What started off as an ex-pat’s account of English life, and morphed into my thoughts on various subjects, then got stuck on nail polish for a while, and has since swung back around to my thoughts on various new subjects, will continue to skirt the lines of mundane blog and cleverly thought-out insights on things you’d never think of yourself. But mostly mundane.

I am now working in Toronto as a writer, editor, and creative person.

Thanks for reading!