Its all sinking in...

Happy Monday Everyone,

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I said to myself last week I would have a quite weekend but as soon as I saw the sunshine Friday afternoon, I thought why not go enjoy it while it lasts. So after work myself and my boyfriend headed to Deep South for a few drinks in their fabulous beer garden. I hadn't been there in awhile and the outside area has changed a bit, there is a new bar with different craft beers and a summer cocktails menu. They also have a new food menu, which is amazing! They cook it outside right in front of you and I would highly recommend the messy chips. When it got a little chilly we went inside and met a few friends and the night continued.

Seeing as I went out Friday, you would think that I would take it easy Saturday. That was not the case. After spending the morning playing with my niece and taking millions of videos and photos of her because she is so cute, I got a call from one of my friends asking me if I wanted to go to Baltimore for the night, She was leaving within the hour and I'm not going to lie it didn't take much convincing. So myself and two friends headed west. 

I love Baltimore! Every time I go there I have so much fun, that might be the company though. (Aww isn't that just lovely? ) When we arrived we met my friend Linda's friends and they took us up to the top of a cliff. The view from the top was only breath taking, while standing there I did think for a moment, what a beautiful country and I will be leaving it all behind in a matter of weeks.

As the day turned into night we enjoyed a gorgeous dinner in La Jolie Brise. From there it gets a bit hazy,with flashbacks of eating a meatball wrap while the woman cooking it tries to show me tricks to get rid of hiccups, to making a rap name called EZ Money and reciting The Real Slim Shady to justify my new rapper identity. I am normal I swear! 

When morning arrived we headed off for breakfast in the Glebe Gardens. This is another amazing place if you ever visit Baltimore. The food was delicious and the gardens and walks around it are so beautiful.

We ended the day with a hilarious event called The Wooden Boat Festival . This event was running all weekend but the highlight was on Sunday when we watched a group of people, who had built boats the day before, attempt to race each other. The atmosphere down there was incredible, most of the boats stayed afloat and the ones that did sink looked like they had the most fun. Sitting on the pier with the sun beating down, I couldn't help but think that I need to enjoy every weekend immensely with my friends especially after figuring out that I only have about 3 weekends left with some of them, I think it might of been "the fear" taking over but it was all sinking in.

For now I am looking forward to this weekend because I am heading away with my Dad and Parker for four days. I can't complain really.

Talk soon xx

Zita J

  

Packing.

Ok, so its 9 weeks today that I'm jetting off and yes, I have started packing. For some of ye reading this ye are probably thinking, "is this one off her head", but in fact this process is more daunting then your ordinary packing for a weeks holiday. I have to try fit my whole room into one suitcase (jokes). All jokes aside this task is something I have to plan well and I thought I better start sooner rather than later because knowing me I will be spending the last few days at home, crying to my cat, freaking out about leaving and having all the Barrys Tea and Taytos I can manage, just in case I can't find "real" tea and crisps in Toronto.

So the first thing I did two weeks ago was buy new suitcases. A large one and a carry on. I bought them in home store and more for half price and they both came to €75 .They are light weight and come in lots of different colours. I got them in purple of course. (I love purple). They still have the offer. See pic below:

We are flying with Aer Lingus and we are only allowed one bag (23kg) and one carry on. Naturally, this is freaking me out. Since I  am going in the summer I need to pack summer clothes like shorts and t-shirts as the temperatures can be between 25-40 degrees. HOWEVER, the winter is a different story altogether and temperatures have reached as low as -32.(As I wrote that I nearly change my mind about going). So that means I have to pack hats, scarfs and long johns :-) For people who know me, they will know I am always cold.They have laughed at me thinking about the winter that I will be facing. I'm just not going to think about how cold it will be and maybe then it won't happen right? I am more worried about how I will get all the clothes and shoes I love in. Oh god the shoes! How will I leave some of them behind :-( As the time gets closer, I might consider buying a second bag, for my shoes( jokes).

Summer
-v-
Winter

I hear vacuum bags are quite good also for getting lots of clothes into one suitcase so I think I may have to purchase some and see how I go. Packing aside, for now and you can probably tell by my face in the above photo, I am a little worried about the cold but I'm sure I'll get on with it. One thing is for certain though, I am not leaving the country without my dressing gown. The moment I get in from work it goes on, I wear it so much at home that my niece has pointed at dressing gowns in shops and said "Zita J".(Awks).Nothing beats being comfy though.

Talk soon.

Zita J

xx

City of Choice

Deciding to move to Canada was one thing, deciding which city was another. When I made the choice to begin my new adventure in Canada, I then had to figure out which city would be the best place to start. This involved a lot of googling and looking at pretty pictures of mountains, lakes and high rise buildings but this journey is not going to be all of about the sights and photo opportunities that I can later put on Instagram, I'm moving my life there. This will mean for the first time I will be living out of home, starting a new job (hopefully) and learning  about grown up things like buying furniture from Ikea (and getting excited about it).

There were a few things to consider when choosing which city to live in but eventually both me and my boyfriend decided on Toronto. Being perfectly honest, the two main reasons behind our choice was firstly, how close Toronto is to Ireland. To fly from Dublin to Toronto it only takes about 7 hours. I am quite close to my family and have a good relationship with them so knowing that they are not going to be too far from me in terms of flying, makes my decision to leave that little bit easier.

Secondly, there is nothing more comforting then seeing a familiar face when you are taken out of your comfort zone and landed somewhere unknown to you. I have friends who just recently moved to Toronto and they have been filling me in, on the goings on of city life.This really was the pull factor that helped us make our decision if I'm honest.

Toronto not only looks like a beautiful city from the pictures I have seen but the list of things to see and do is endless. On my list of things to do already are: 1. Go see the Niagara Falls, 2. Go to a Hockey match (that's Ice Hockey but apparently Canadians know you're a tourist if you say Ice Hockey). 3. Go to the PATH, this is Toronto's underground walkway that according to Guinness World Records, is the largest underground shopping complex with 30km of shopping arcades. 4. Look at the CN tower (from the ground) because there is not a chance in hell I am going up to the top 5: Go skiing, go to markets, buy second hand furniture and interesting things for when we get an apartment. The list goes on.

So with the decision made and flights booked for July 20th, it looks like I will be seeing Toronto in the summer. I'm looking forward to seeing some friendly faces when I arrive and excited that a few more will follow suit. My friends, to me, are so important and while I will be heart broken leaving some of them behind, I can be reassured that this new chapter will let me reconnect with old friends and bring me lots of new ones too. However, knowing that I will be taking on this adventure with my best friend is the best part. Did you just vomit a little? Thought so!

Forever Cheesy,
Zita J :-)

The Waiting Game.

Welcome all to my first ever blog post, so whats this all about you may ask? Well back in January I was sitting at home, still recovering from overindulging at Christmas and already after breaking my New Years resolutions, when I started thinking about what direction I wanted my life to go in. While happy in the job I am in and life in general, I just wanted a change. At 25 years of age I felt I had more to see and explore, so the planning begun. I had a chat (not a long one to be honest) with my boyfriend, when we both decided we were on the same wave length. After trashing out a few ideas, weighing up what destination we both would like and me instantly ruling out Australia due to the fear a spider would kill me in my sleep, or a snake or a shark. (I'm a wimp), we came to the conclusion that Canada was the best choice for us. I know there is bears and mousses that could kill me but bears are kinda cuddly right? (jokes).

Anyway, irrational fears aside, from January onward, we played "The Waiting Game". In order to live and work in Canada you must get a working holiday visa. Last year, this type of visa was released early in the year and various websites stated that it would be the same this year. That was not the case, every day for FOUR MONTHS we checked the website for any mention of visas and it was not until mid April that the day finally came and by God were we ready, filling out our application in 1 minute. So from here on, the only waiting game we have to play is waiting to move our life to Canada in the Summer. The main reason behind my blog is solely for me (selfish I know), I don't have a very good memory,people who know me well can vouch for me on this one.I want to remember my new adventure and all the memories I make, I want to share them with the people who I unfortunately will be leaving behind. My blog is just for fun, for me, my family, friends and anyone who would like to see how I am getting on with the new chapter in my life. I am not a writer, I am just a normal girl with fears and worries like the next person and a girl who is courageous and ambitious and wants to regret the things I did,not the things I didn't do. (Prepare for cheesy and emotional sentences like that).
 Hope you enjoy my blog,
 Zita J xx