Aix de Provence, Gordes, Roussillon, London

well the trip has come to its last stop. tomorrow we're homeward bound. can't say i'm too excited about leaving vacation world but it happens. 
after paris we went to the south of france, Aix de Provence. it was beautiful there too. we stayed in a small village and visited Saint Remy & Gordes. 

this is a church in the town of Provence where we were staying

it was rad walking through the different little towns, experiencing what they had to offer. 
they are big on their soaps & lavender in the south of france so they had them both for sale everywhere you went. it still amazes me how tiny the roads are and how fast everybody drives here.

i loved how old everything is, it looks to be practically gone & falling apart but it's gorgeous.
my mom, ashley & i were all very obsessed with all of the shutters we saw everywhere
& all of the different colored doors that went along. 
they would have multiple colors along one building a lot to show the difference in shops or whatnot. 
some of the famous lavender for sale.
this is what our view consisted of while driving to Gordes: rows & rows of grape vines.

random but amazing little town we drove by on our way..

this is Roussillon. i wish i had more photos but it was pooring/hailing on us once we got there,
so it was semi difficult to get pictures. i have more on my film camera, but i've yet to get the film developed. anyways, for any artists out there that know about ochre paint, this is where they get the color from (you can see the ochre color in the buildings. maybe?)

this is what happens when ashley & i are bored while my ma figures out where to go.
we end up taking loads of pictures of ourselves.
this is my favorite of the three of us.
jo was not please we weren't being helpful. 
gorgeous view from the town Gordes. this place is unreal.
it's on top of a mountain with the best view. 
in the summer those fields are  c o v e r e d  with lavender.
i loved this town with all my little heart.
view of Gordes from the road when you're coming up to it.
see how unreal this place is? 
& finally, we left france for a day in england to show ash the sights.
london was a crazy town today. it was the busiest i have ever seen
i'm guessing it has to do with all the tourists that came in for the royal wedding.
nicely decorated with loads of flags everywhere though.

the london eye

ash & i on the big red tour bus 

& last but not least, big ben.
it a perfect ending to a great trip. saw all the big main sights
plus we got to go see The Phantom of The Opera,
one of my personal favorites.
a big thanks to my amazing ma for putting this all together
& for inviting us ladies on such an adventure!


royal babes

she is gorgeous & so is her dress 

i love this picture. 
her sis is also a complete babe.

Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France

since my last post in Belfast, Ireland, i have been to 3 other countries alongside my ma, my sister kelly, my soon-to-be sister-in-law kristen (aka:kris), and my friend ashley. it has been great, but sadly we're on the last leg of this euroExtravaganza. these are some photos from the adventure

Portaferry, ireland, was really rad to see since that's where my heritage stems from. it's cool imagining what it would have been like way back when they lived there. now it's just a quiet little fishing town, but it used to be a popular place. it's gorgeous there. 

while we were there we went around to different graveyards with my aunt marty & uncle dee trying to find my families gravestones to give us an idea of dates & to verify they were there. unfortunately we couldn't read many of the headstones, but we did find the right graveyard which was cool. there's something about old school graveyards that really attracts me, so much history & detail, they're so different from todays cemeteries. 
after Portaferry we went to Amsterdam, holland (or The Netherlands, we never were sure which to call it). Amsterdam is amazing. i'm pretty sure the people never sleep there & all they do is ride their bikes everywhere. it's completely flat so   e v e r y o n e   rides bikes. it's cool to see cause they have so many different kinds of bikes & bike attachments, my sis was having a hay day with all of them. i loved the architecture of the city, it's old with history mixed with a lot of modern buildings. there is a real kind of character to the town. it's built along canals too which is really cool, they have the sweetest houseboats along the canals, some of them are incredibly nice looking. 
of course while we were there we had to stop by the red light district, and it was all i imagined it to be. semi-naked/naked ladies showing you their goodies in the windows...it was interesting. 
one day we went to the keukenhof where all of the pretty tulips & flowers you imagine to be everywhere are. they were gorgeous! i couldn't get over how many there were, different kinds, colors, etc. it was so pretty to see, it looked like a painting, i want to be surrounded by these at my house. i can't imagine waking up and just being surrounded by fields of flowers like the people in that town are.

Brugge, belgium, was our next stop. i've been dying to go since i saw the movie In Bruge (i really liked that movie, but my mom hated it). it looked so picturesque in the movie & they kept saying how it was a real-life fairy tale town, i obviously had to go. so i'm happy to say i finally made it and it met all of my expectations. especially their delicious belgian waffles. mmmm

kris & ash in the Brugge town square with their famous clock tower in the background.

Paris, france, came last. here i am with my ma, kris, and kelly. we were all so excited to be in france, and since kris was leaving at the crack of dawn the next day (4a.m. to be exact) we tried to take in all the sights. we went to the eiffel tower, where we got our crepes, & headed for a boat tour of the main attractions. all in all it was a perfect first night in paris.

the next day my ma, kelly, ashley & i went lunch at Le Jules Verne (it's in the eiffel tower, nbd), went to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, & made a pit stop at the Moulin Rouge... unfortunately that did not meet my expectations, i think the movie hyped it up too much for me. but the rest of the day was great!

me & ashley under the eiffel tower after stuffing our faces at lunch.

sleep deprived in belfast

thoughts from a sleep deprived girl in belfast, ireland.
i've been awake since 3 a.m. and it is now 7, my body isn't adjusting to the time change as easily as normal. it's cool.
since being awake, i read water for elephants. i really liked it, and i'm now more excited for the upcoming movie. i love reading books before watching the movie, it doesn't work for me to do it the other way around.
i wrote a total of 3 whole pages in my journal. i don't write that much on a normal basis, generally 1 or so a night, so 3 was a big deal. i was just lying in my bed  thinking these thoughts when i though, "why wouldn't i write these down?" so i did, and wah-la!
i listened to a lot of music in my attempt of falling back asleep, obviously it failed in helping me. but i enjoyed it none the less. when i don't listen to my music i kind of feel like i'm betraying it, weird.. i know. i just have a lot of love for my little ipod full of my favorite voices to listen to.
sometimes there are just too many thoughts to even attempt sleep. at least that 's how it is for me, it seems to be a regular thing. i don't seem to be able to shut off my head. these are the majority of the thoughts i've had tonight:
i really have liked belfast, from what i've seen. we've been here just a day really, and it's a rad little spot. i wouldn't mind living and going to school or something here. 
whenever i find myself somewhere new i always think what it is like to be someone that lives there. when i see the people on the streets here i always wonder what's going on in their lives, what they're thinking about. i sometimes just think it's strange that everyone goes through the same things but in a different location! it's odd to think that somewhere so new and intriguing to me is the norm for someone else! 
and these are the things that keep me up all night long.
me and the gang, uncle dee, aunt marty, mama jo, and yours truly

paper cuts

some people are just creative. i always wonder how people come up with their ideas, and i then wonder why i didn't think of it when they are so simple.. sometimes at least. it takes a lot of talent and patience too though. whoever thought of these paper cuts are pretty clever, and damn patient. i wouldn't last to finish one, but if i did i would cherish it. check them out. 



euroExtravaganza, part 2

today i'm off on to Europe. life doesn't get much better than that. there's no better way to kick off my summer. bag is packed with the essentials: tshirts, over shirts, leggins, boots, babypillow, and books.. along with my new specs that i can't get enough of. ready set go. 




how to stay creative

i love trying to create, something.. anything. but i'm always running into mental blocks, so i was quite happy when i stumbled across this list full of ways to help

doodles

here is a doodle i found from my school notebook. 
i spend my school time well.

birdy

a friend of mine shared this remake with me and i simply fell in love with her voice. it's beautiful

the great outdoors


about a year and a half ago my friend grayson and i had a conversation that went like this: 
G "i can take people for free to the climbing gym on fridays, but i don't have anyone to take." 
K "helllllllllllo? take me."
G "you like to rock climb? i wouldn't have guessed that."
K "no, but you can still take me."
G "haha ok ker, you can come."
and i've loved climbing ever since. i've been climbing indoors mostly due to the snow i surround myself in, but i can't wait to go outdoors this summer. 
last year i was able to go a couple of times with ashley, jake, and grayson and i have been dying to do it ever since.
i want to go on so many climbing trips. 
looking at the pictures above makes me so excited to go into the great outdoors. i want to experience sleeping like those guys (i don't think i would last longer than 2 minutes on it though)
and i would be ok to find some cute pups on the mountain like the last picture.