Louise Graham Barcelona

It's not got quite the same ring to it.We watched Vicky Christina Barcelona one day when we were comatose in bed hungover and spent the next 2 days singing that really annoying, catchy "barcelooonaaa barcelooonaaaa" from the credits. 

Graham booked me flights to Barcelona to see him and 24 hours later I was on a plane. 

He met me at arrivals with a bottle of sangria and we continued back to his, sangria in hand. Cuz you can do that there folks. It was something of a Love Actually moment.

We ate pizza and drank a lot of cheap vodka, we danced and walked and sunbathed on the beach and ate some more. We curled up in bed and watched TV with stinking hangovers unable to talk let alone move and when we were able to walk again we walked and ate more.

We visited the Sagrada Familia which has been on my bucket list since I was 15 in art class. 

 We sat in parks beneath trees and on benches and had evening siestas and drank coffee and ate. 

We spent the last day on the beach before

I went home, with the biggest sad face, back to Scotland. 

I really needed this trip. Not just to see my best friend but because I was having a bit of trouble adjusting to reality back home, and I suppose Barcelona was some what of a half-way-house for me. 

There aren't many photos because I was using my iphone instead of my SLR because I knew with Graham I'd be drunk and not wanting to haul around lenses. And plus, he lives there so I have plenty time to take my camera over. I usually only like having my SLR when I'm on my own so I can take my time and not feel rushed. 

Louise x

lipstick and nature

This is the story of 4 girls who go camping. Or rather 4 ladies who survived camping. 

Well first things first. We went camping on Vancouver Island. 4 girls, one car, a ferry, and a bear. 

6am and off we chugged in our car weighed down by clothes that we wouldn't wear and a tonne of food that we definitely would eat. Our ferry ride went quickly with the help of breakfast bagels and the unavoidable reenactment of a particular scene from a well known movie. 

que Celine Dion

We stopped off for mini nature adventures but had to leave because SOMEBODY fell in the river with their clothes on and had to get all naked in front of the car on a busy road with Abercrombie models going past in every 2nd car. 

Chelsey set up our tent. And the fire. Hannah, Tennille and I were very helpful, of course. We collected twigs and things...

and when we needed more firewood we went for ice cream in Tofino. 

We drank like hillbillies and ate smores and danced around the campfire.

Instead of going whale watching like originally planned we all agreed surfing would be more memorable. Surfing.

There was definitely some girl bonding going on that weekend. No one showered for 3 days but we did go surfing so that counts, right? We listened to albums on repeat of Bonnie Tyler, Britney, and N'Sync,  Tennille gave us tarot readings and we ate our body weights in cheetos and veggie hotdogs. We snuggled up on the cold foggy beach for naps and attempted to tell ghost stories. I heard a bear outside the tent in the middle of the night and nobody believes me but they didn't hear it. 

It. Was. Amazing. 

I'll be frank with you, I've been having waaay too much fun so I haven't had the time to update you on my travels or lack of but better late than never hey! 

it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

I did NOT start my 24th birthday with a vomit, a shower and a bagel. I did NOT cry last night. I did NOT shneck a tattooed stranger in a Slayer t-shirt. I did NOT get rejected by a moustached Glaswegian catholic Rangers supporter wearing a Rangers t-shirt because of a small miscommunication that started as "So, when you goin' home?". I did NOT let everyone at work believe I was a fresh 19.

wink wink. 

We took too many selfies in the bathrooms,

I got bought drinks all night at The Cambie...

...even ones I didn't want

I got presents and food at Warehouse and danced at The Met. What more could I ask for!

Somebody asked me on Sunday  what my best year to date has been and I honestly think it's been this one. Not because there's been less sadness  because there's been a lot of sadness this past year but because I have laughed uncontrollably, till I can't inhale anymore, on nearly a daily basis, I have experienced some crazy things, ticked soo many things off my bucket list, and made some genuinely incredible friends, I have zero regrets.

A REAL SUMMER (edited)

Vancouver still hasn't shaken off the last remnants of spring but everyone assures me summer is on its way whether it's now or a late summer in August, frankly I couldn't care less as long as I can go home not looking like I've just been hiding in Glasgow for 12 months.

taking creepy photos of my friends

posing with the poser of all posers on my birthday

Last night I sat with friends on the art gallery steps watching people breakdance on the ice rink below until there was just one guy left, just his silhouette dancing on his own with his spindly legs and wooly hat. We'd been shopping for my birthday outfit, had coffee, talked about beards and bald men at the waterfront at False Creek then had dinner at the veggie friendly Templeton restaurant come diner on Granville. And lemme tell ya...veggie hot dog with vegan chilli, melted cheese on a bun with fries is heaven on a plate. Did I mention I was vegetarian? 7 weeks on Monday. 2 dress sizes down I'm unsure whether it's the no-meat-diet or the work-drink-work lifestyle I've been living of late. Living up to the Scottish stereotype with a particular flare and very little finesse.

Sort Your Life Out

So it's 5am, Sunday morning and there's a few stragglers from the night before who still haven't gone to bed. I'm sitting in a room with a drunk Paula, a man playing a guitar who's telling us all how much coke and whatever else he's taken and when his baby's due, petty abuse is being hurled back and forth between myself and an Englishman, there's an American navy guy and 2 girls who don't even stay here, one of which is sprawled across a couch sleeping and the other I'm positive was just in a toilet cubicle with a boy. Grim.

Anyways, somehow there's all these pretend accents flying about, some better than others ;) and this Aussie guy walks in so I hit him with my best Aussie accent and he actually believed me! Not only did he believe me but when I eventually told him I was actually Scottish he didn't believe it! I'd finally done it, I'd practised so much I lost my own identity. I started questioning who the f*!k I was and went to bed. I lost money, Paula lost her bag, Paula broke in to a bar (neither of us know the details), I found Paula's bag, we missed a flat viewing the next day and were 2 hours late for a mashed potato date with a friend AND {mum and dad close your eyes} I kissed the first Canadian. High five!!

1 grand down, we need to sort our lives out and get jobs.

XFQTNAV9TD2K