Summer so far . . .

 . . . Seems to be wet, cold, and miserable. Save for one glorious hot week in March, and another at the end of May, it seems to have rained, rained, and rained some more. Where is the drought that we were promised this year?? All I can say is 28 DAYS TO ALICANTE :D I am in desperate need of some vitamin D . . . Seasonal depression anyone??

Despite the less than desirable weather, this summer has also been a ton of fun so far.

Affordable Art Fair which actually wasn't very affordable. We didn't see a single thing under £100, and everything we liked seemed to be over £1000. Don't know about you but I certainly don't have that kinda money sitting in my piggy bank. Me and Rachel went to the affordable art fair a few weeks back near Temple Meads station. It was really interesting looking at all the art, and some by local artists too, the amount of art focused on the Clifton Bridge was astonishing but I guess it's Bristol's most famous landmark. Me and Rach had a favourite piece though which if I did have a spare £2200 I would of bought in a heartbeat. See. . .  It's sparkles :D Afterwards we went out to eat at Frankie an Bennies and then I introduced Rach to my new favourite place AngelBerry. It is AMAZING!! They sell frozen yoghurt, like the proper stuff that you buy in frozen yoghurt places in America. I am in love with the place. 




Alton Towers has to be one of my favourite places on earth, it is certainly my favourite theme park. For Josh's 18th he wanted to go and have a family day out there, and I was really glad that it was a day off for me. This was the week that was ROASTING HOT. Like 30 degrees which is crazy for England. I made the most of the weather that week and spent a lot of it in the sun . . . Which was fine until we went to Alton Towers, and spending all that time outside, I finished looked slightly pink. I had so much fun though. I love rollercoasters. I think my favourite one is Air. We did however work out that the new ride, nemisis: sub terra, was just a waste of time. We didn't get to ride on th13teen or rita. Th13teen because while we were in the queue the ride broke down and rita because the line was too long. I'm planning another trip out to Alton Towers in a couple of weeks with a few of my work colleagues . . . I can't wait!!

Baking Frenzy. For my Birthday I got given a cookbook which I love as it's filled with 

deserts. I love baking desert items. So one day I decided to go on a baking frenzy. I made 3 things all in the same afternoon. Chocolate Lava Cake, Strawberry cupcakes, and Ginger and Lime Cheesecake. Here are a few pictures (I was trying to get artistic) of my creations and a few 'work in progress' shots. (Sorry they're all scrambled)

Nadine is over in England right now for her sister's wedding and it was great fun to go and see her today. Nadine is English, but we only met when we both attended BYU. We both worked in the food court and after numerous people asking if we knew eachother we finally met. When I went over to America 2 years ago I stayed with Nadine for a few days before I went to California, and since then she has gotten married. It was super fun to meet up with her briefly and also meet her husband. Since they were visiting Cadbury World today, I went up there to meet up with them. Unfortunately due to the dentist :( and traffic on the M5 I didn't have time to meet them inside. Hopefully it won't be another 2 years before we manage to meet up again, at least I'm hoping to go back to America before then. Here is a picture of us (admittedly not the best one of me) at part of Cadbury World. (I really want to go back and actually visit it properly some day  . . . Even the air smelled of chocolate). 

Za Za a la Highworth!! Me and Ali have fallen in love with Za Za Bazaar in Bristol. It is one of our favourite places to eat when Ali is in town. It's all you can eat, and there is loads of food from all different cultures. There's Mexican, Chinese, English, American, Italian, Indian, Sushi, Salads, and of course Deserts. So one night I decided that we were going to have home made Za Zas. We had pizza, fajitas, chicken tikka, chinese, curly fries, deserts etc etc. We had far too much food and Ali was probably eating left overs for the rest of the week but it was sooo good. 

Family Reunion this year was on the Jubilee weekend and I was lucky enough to have it off. It was held at my Grandparents house and I was able to go down with one of my Aunt and Uncle. The American folk were over aswell and it was soo good to catch up with them and spend some time before they jetted back to Atlanta. The last time I saw then was when I spent Christmas and New Year with them my last year at BYU. It was all jubilee themed so we had a garden party, had to guess the baby names (I came 3rd), made jubilee hats (Joint 1st) and we had one of my Uncles crazy scavenger walks. My team consisted of most of my girl cousins that were there and we actually won that one. I then went into London on the Sunday and spent some time with James and Cheryl before meeting the American Aunt and Uncle and also Janet and Robin (the set that took me to/from family reunion/london) for dinner in Kensington. It was a really good weekend. 

Home is where the heart is!! I am so lucky to be able to call two places home while I've been living in Bristol. I absolutely love living here with Grace and Rach. We have been in this house for over 9 months now (our longest yet) and by the time we leave it would of been over a year. Yep that's right, we are moving again!! This time the house is separating. Rachel is handing her notice in at work and so we are all moving. Rachel is planning on doing something abroad, Grace will move closer to work, and I will move home for the winter. With Josh moving out, his room was going to become the spare room, but since I'm going back home it will become mine for a few months. It's going to be really sad leaving the house, and Bristol and I'm going to miss being close to my friends but moving back home will be good. It'll be great to spend some time with the family, and I was home a lot last winter anyway so it makes most sense. Lucas is going to love it. The last few times I was home he's come up to me or crawled into bed and has told me that he's "missed me soooo much" and "wants me to stay forever". He's so cute. Here is a picture that he told me to take when I was home a couple of months back so that I wouldn't forget him... Awww!!

So in other news I've been pulled up for Jury Duty. It just came completely out of the blue and is something I never expected I would ever have to do. It is a legal requirement to do Jury Duty when you are called up. I was meant to go this week but asked for it to be deferred so now I am reporting for duty on November 5th. I'm a little bit excited about it to be honest . . . I love Crime shows etc so it'll be really fascinating to see/be in a jury in real life. It could end up that I report and they don't need me . . . If that happens I might be tempted just to book a holiday instead. lol

With all the miserable weather I am so tempted to transfer somewhere hot and sunny. I'm craving sunshine right now. The winter transfer list came out a couple of days ago and they need someone in Gran Canaria, it is so tempting to put my name down for it and it would be for the 5 months over the winter if I were to get it. I'm still thinking about the decision to put my name forward, but even if I do the chances of getting it are slim, after all they only need 1 person and I bet there are hundreds of crew over the network that would want to spend the winter in the canaries. However, after this winter I am considering transferring out in the summer. It's still something I'm spending a lot of time thinking about, and it will probably boil down to how I feel after Christmas. I love working out of Bristol, I love the base, and the crew, and the relaxed and friendly atmosphere we have at work, but I have this feeling that life needs a change right now and I'm not sure what it is. I guess that's what's led me to the thoughts that maybe it's time for a change at work. I guess we'll see. I might decide that staying in Bristol is what I need to do. 

Open University  has come to an end for the year. I have finished my module and should get the result on the 3rd August. I have also registered for the Math module for next year and was even lucky enough to be granted a partial financial aid. It means that I only have to pay £116 for the whole module which is a huge relief. Now to spend the summer going over my A-level Math so that I can refresh my brain. It's been 5 years since I've taken them and I can't seem to remember anything. 

I was very lucky this year and was given 3 days of annual leave in August. I can't wait to jet out to Alicante for 5 days and enjoy sitting round by the pool or on the beach with a few good books and soaking up the sun. A few days after I come back I'll be going to the Olympics in London to see the Men's Semi-final Volleyball. I'm way excited. What a once in a lifetime opportunity. Apparently the tickets have arrived at Mum and Dads, and the train is booked :) Not long to go now. 

Sorry for such a long post. It's all a bit scrambled but I wanted it updated a bit before anything else happened. Next time I'll try and tell a few of the crazy stories I've had at work recently. 

2012 so far ...

4 months without a blog post is bad, even for me. So as I am procrastinating writing my next OU assignment, and am resisting having an afternoon nap (otherwise I won't sleep tonight and am on earlies in the morning) I decided it was time to update my blog on 2012 so far.

Me and Steph have been spending a lot of weekends together recently. It's been really nice to be able to spend more time with her. It's been weird the past few weeks when we haven't seen each other. When I was at BYU we weren't really that close, so it's fantastic that we have a great relationship now, how grateful I am to have a wonderful cousin.

At the beginning of February I flew out to Ireland for the weekend. I had such a great time visiting with Avril. It was quite an eventful weekend in the end. On the Friday we drove up to Northern Ireland and visited Giant's Causeway. It's a feature I've been looking forward to seeing since I first heard about it. Call me a Geography geek but I love how this landmark was created by lava and volcanic activity way back when. I was pretty excite to see it in real life. Una was meant to be flying back from Budapest on Friday night but ended up missing her flight, and Avril was meant to be flying to the UK on Saturday morning but she too missed her flight (I know . . . What plonkers!! :) ) so me and Avril spent Saturday chilling out in Dublin City Centre. It was great to be able to catch up and chat and wonder around the shops. It was so great to actually get away for a weekend, it felt like a mini holiday!!

For February half term, me and the family drove down to the house in France and went skiing. It was the first time I've managed to go in 5 years (despite living only 30 minutes from the slopes in Utah I never went . . . Stupid student lifestyle). I was pretty excited to get back out onto the slopes, and had the goal to get back on to a red slope. However, when I got onto the green I quickly realised that I had forgotten how to ski. It was so hard getting back into it, and I think I've become more of a scardy cat than I was the last time we skied. As we went up the chair lift for the last run on the first day, I fell as I was getting off the chair lift. One ski popped off causing the fall and for the other ski to come off to . . . I ended up bashing my knee pretty hard and it was so painful to ski back down and walk on that leg. Because of that I didn't ski on the second day, and then we spent a few days chilling at the house. On the Friday we went back to the resort, but since the weather was pretty cold and foggy we let the boys go off on the good slopes and the rest of us went sledging and then for hot chocolate... Yum!!
The last day of the holiday me, Dad, Josh and Jake went back up to the slopes where the weather was GORGEOUS. I was roasting after the first slope, seriously felt like sunbathing. We then had to go up a really steep drag lift. I hate drag lifts at the best of times without the added stress of holding on for dear life. Josh and Jake then took us on the hardest blue slope. It was really narrow, and there was a bend with sheet ice. I think I was literally stuck on this corner for ages, I hated it, I don't like skiing on ice. My legs were pretty sore for about a week after that slope.

Josh and Jake call me a pretty skier ... On the green!!

 Sorry for the upside down picture . . . But this was the view I had one day at work. I loved the Sunset.

In the middle of March, Avril, Una, Veronica, and Daniel came over from Ireland for the Cardiff UV dance and stayed at mine. We spent some time on the Saturday visiting Cheddar and Weston-Super-Mare, and then on Sunday we had a massive roast and visited Blaise castle. The weather held out pretty good, and the views and walks were beautiful. I loved having them come and visit!!

This is what I came down to the day before my birthday (since I spent my actual birthday at Mom and Dads). Don't I have fantastic housemates!! That night we went out to eat with a group of friends to Don Giovannis in Bristol which was pretty good. After that Grace, Rachel and Kevin made me a birthday cake, and then  a few of us went up to Clifton to go rock sliding by the bridge. It was really good fun, I loved it!!

My pretty flowers now that they have started coming out. 

I love Easter, partly because it involves a lot of Chocolate. :) Here is my Easter haul this year.

Josh has received his mission call . . . He's going to be going to the Enlgand Manchester Mission on 9th August. It's pretty exciting news.

There is still so much to look forward to this month. At the end of the month the BYU singers are going to be coming to England, and singing in Bristol. I am way excited because my friend Nick is in the BYU singers and is therefore going to be coming to visit. IIt's been 2 years since I was last in the US so I am excited to see one of my American friends :)

The beginning of May is the Bristol 4 day convention. Excitement!!

In just 2 weeks it marks 3 whole years since I left BYU. Some days it seems just like yesterday since I left, and others it seems like a lifetime ago. I miss BYU so bad, I still get so homesick for Provo, the culture, and the American food and of course all my friends. It's really hard being so far away from everything I love out there, I definitely left part of my heart out in Provo. I can't believe I left 3 years ago . . . I can't believe I've been working for Ryanair for almost that long. I actually didn't think that I would still be there.

Sorry for the long update, next time I'll try and blog a bit more frequently.

Christmas 2011

Christmas was amazing this year. For starters . . . Every girls dream, I lost weight over the Christmas period, a whole 6lbs worth, courtesy of being unwell the week leading up to Christmas day. Success . . . I think so!!

This year I went home for Christmas. I got there for Christmas Eve where we had our Christmas Eve traditions of 1) Me being the wrapping elf and wrapping all of Mom's presents 2) Cinema . . . We went to watch Arther Christmas 3) Soup 4) Hanging out with the Clarksons 5) Placing 1 present from Mom and Dad under the tree :) I love our traditions, it's one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is all the traditions that we have in December.

Santa came  ...

Lucas woke me up on Christmas Day at the really early hour of 6:30am. I don't think he was too impressed when I told him to wake me up again when everyone was up. I guess I was a really good girl this year because I had a whole sack full of presents (James obviously wasn't as good as he had a lump of coal in his sack). I think my favorite present from Santa this year was cake tins, they made me very happy and hopefully will get used a lot. Laura had to work the night shift and then had to drive straight from Leicester . . . She arrived home at 10am. It was really nice to have the whole family home. Josh is going to be away next  year and with James and Cheryl getting married this was probably the last time we'll be all together for Christmas.

. . . And brought me lots of prezzies. 

This year we decided to have lunch before opening the presents from under the tree except for 1 which we opened before. Josh was master of the tree this year and the first (and biggest) present went to Laura. I opened my present form my siblings (a book and a box of chocolates - they know me well) and then we had a FANTASTIC lunch. Mom out did herself again this year. We then spent the rest of the afternoon opening the presents from under the tree. All my presents this year were awesome . . . I got so spoilt!!

Josh handing out the first Present

Present goes to Laura

Things to look forward to for 2012


As we go into the new year I was trying to think of all the things that I have to look forward to over the next 12 months.
1) My weekend away in Dublin at the beginning of February
2) Skiing . . . I haven't been able to go for 5 years now so I'm way excited
3) Possible trip to Italy. Me and Abi have been talking about it for years so hopefully we'll actually make it there this year
4) My friend is in the BYU singers and they are doing an England tour in April . . . I am way excited for him to come visit.
5) The olympics. What a once in a lifetime opportunity, I've got tickets for the Men's Semi-final Volleyball.

Goals

What would a new year be without SOME goals. I'm not a massive goal maker as I'm not very good at sticking to things. I also try not to making unrealistic goals like lose 20lbs, or give up chocolate or ice cream. But this year I have a few simple goals.
1) Take more pictures. I get so frustrated that I don't have more pictures of my friends/family and activities that we do.
2) Pass my OU module this year.
3) Find 1 thing each day that I'm thankful for, or one positive thing in each day and try and keep a record of them. I haven't started this yet so this one starts today.

Happy New Year!!!

Quick update & Thanksgiving!!

It's amazing how time just flies by so fast. I can't believe it's less than 5 weeks until Christmas . . . Craziness!!

Grace and Lisa

Grace and Ali

At the end of September a group of the YSA went camping for the weekend. In true glamping style I went up for the day and met them in Bath, had fun around the bonfire, toasted marshmallows, and went back home to sleep in my own bed when everyone else settled down for the night.

The boys

Treasure Chest Cake
I worked out that I am turning into my mother . . . How you ask!! I recently made this treasure chest cake. The whole time I was making it I kept saying how bad it looked and how unhappy I was with it. As my housemates were reassuring me, I realised that I was turning into what my Mum is like when she bakes cakes . . . We both can't see how amazing the creations are. It's taken me a long time to be happy with how this cake looks . . . Pretty good huh?? 

I absolutely loved the heat wave we had at the beginning of October. For a few days the temperature soared and was around 26 degrees, even hitting 30 in some parts of the UK. As I had already packed away my summer clothes I had to dig them out again, but adored sitting out in the park catching some last summer rays.

Recently I haven't had much bad luck at work. I had almost forgotten what it was like. So we were coming back from Lanzarote last wednesday when the captain called saying we were going to have some trouble getting into Bristol due to fog. Well after holding above Bristol for quite a while we ended up diverting to Birmingham. We were then told that we were leaving the aircraft in Birmingham and catching a taxi to Bristol. We never walk through the terminal in Bristol so as we were walking through birmingham airport it almost felt like I was a 'proper' flight attendant, this image from Catch me if you can popped into my head . . . Is it wrong that I really liked everyone looking at me and feeling so glamorous??

I know thanksgiving isn't until Thursday, but we are all busy on Thursday so we had a few friends round and had our Thanksgiving meal last night instead. I love having people round for dinner. I love everyone all helping to pull a big dinner together, socialising, washing up together, and crashing on the coach afterwards. I loved Thanksgiving while I was in America, I loved having a day where we think about what we are thankful for in the last year . . . I know I don't do it enough. I also love a day where there is Pumpkin Pie. lol. So here are 22 things that I am thankful for this year (In no particular order).

1. A job that I enjoy.
2. My family . . . They are awesome.
3. My housemates and the atmosphere we have in our house.
4. My car . . . Having one die and not having one for a few days made me realise how much I rely on one. 
5. Great friends.
6. Getting a Ryanair contract. 
7. Getting in OU and having BYU credit count.
8. Being financially able to support myself at OU.
9. Not getting the BA and Virgin job . . . The experience of the interviews and applications helped me learn more about myself. 
10. Joe . . . For giving me extra work when I've needed it. 
11. Penicillin. 
12. Living in a country free from war. 
13. Lucas and his many amazing cuddles. 
14. My house . . . I am so lucky to be able to live in this house. 
15. Skype . . . I love skype and the chance it gives me to keep in touch with my American friends. 
16. Ice-cream . . . I love it anyway, but it was one of the only things that could soothe my throat when I had tonsillitis. 
17. The ability to be able to live so close to my family.
18. The ability to be able to jet off to Malta for a couple of days . . . It was very much needed. 
19. My time at BYU . . . For everything it taught me about myself . . . Good and bad.
20. All the spontaneous times spent with my friends. 
21. The many people that have helped us move twice this year. 
22. My beliefs. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The things that Passengers do/say that baffle me.

So you know when you get asked the same thing over and over again?? It gets pretty tedious right?? Recently I've been getting tedious a lot recently... With passengers who ask the same questions over and over and expect a different response, who argue over every little thing you tell them to do for THEIR safety, who ask stupid questions, who treat me as if I'm stupid, who act like children when they can't get their own way, and who moan at the price of a sandwich despite having the price on the menu card which is in their hand and it being their choice to purchase said sandwich.

Here are a few examples:

1) "Ladies and Gentlemen, please ensure all mobile phones are switched completely off prior to take off" Me to passenger who is playing angry birds on his phone: "Sorry sir, can you please turn  your phone off"
Passenger: "It is off"
Me: "I'm sorry sir, but it needs to be switched completely off"
Passenger: "It is off ... I turned it onto flight mode"
Me: "I'm sorry sir, but turning it onto flight mode is not the same as turning it off. All electronic devices must be off for take off. Once we are in the cruise you may have your phone on in flight mode"
Passenger: This phone does not turn off"
Me (Now at the end off all patience I had): "Would you like me to teach you how to turn your phone off??"

2) After trying to open a locked toilet door for the past couple of minutes a passenger turns to me. "Is the toilet open?" You would of thought that he would of figured out by then that the toilet was not open.

3) Another thing that baffles me .... Grown men/women who don't flush the toilet. Would you flush the toilet at home?? Yes you would. I had 4 people in a row use the same toilet and not one of them flushed it. How did all of them not think that was disgusting?? If we are stood in the galley, we can hear what goes on in the toilet. Which means that we hear if you do not flush or not wash your hands ...

4) Passenger: "How much is a coffee?"
Me: "€3.00 or £2.80"
Passenger: "How much is a coffee?"
Me: "€3.00 or £2.80"
Passenger: "Do you accept sterling?"
Me: "Yes sir ... A coffee is 2.80 in sterling"

5) So when we have under a certain amount of passengers, we have to block off some rows. These rows must remain empty for the duration of the flight for weight and balance.

A passenger boards the aircraft and asks where he can sit.
Me: "You can sit anywhere except for rows 3 and 4 sir.
Passenger reaches row 3: "Can I sit here?"
Me: "No sir, it is blocked off today"
Passenger: "Who is going to be sitting there?"
Me: "Nobody sir, it has to remain empty for the whole flight"
Later on during the flight said passenger was sat in row 3.
Me: "Sorry sir, but these rows need to remain empty for the whole flight. I did explain this during the boarding. Can you please return to your original seat."
Passenger: "I'm not sat here, I'm just sat enjoying the view"
Me: "I'm sorry sir, but you can not even be sat here enjoying the view, please return to your original seat"
Passenger: "No, and you haven't even told me why I can't sit here"
Me (Now getting tedious): "Sir, it is for weight and balance. Please return to your original seat"
Passenger: "Are you calling me heavy?"
Passenger returns to seat.
Passenger on disembarking.
Me: "Thank-you, have a good night!"
Passenger: "In future do not tell me off, I will sit where I want to sit"
Captain: "In future do what the cabin crew tell you to do, and stop acting like a child. She is in charge of the cabin and in future if you do not do as your told she can get you arrested"

Things would be so much nicer if passengers didn't argue. We honestly don't say these things because we want to play a prank. It doesn't benefit us to have the rows blocked off because it slows down boarding and means we have to answer the same question over and over.

6) Seat belt sign turns on for turbulence. PA made telling passengers to remain seated and that using the toilet is not allowed
Passenger gets up to use the toilet.
Me: "Sorry sir, you need to remain seated, the seat belt sign is currently on"
Passenger: "I need to use the toilet"
Me: "Yes sir, but the seat belt sign is on. We are going through turbulence and you can not  use the toilet at this time"
Passenger: "I'll just wait here until the turbulence is over then"
Me: "No sir, You need to remain seated with your seat belt on"


These are English passengers who clearly understand what you're saying.

Sometimes you just can't resist to play a prank on them .... After all, even we get tired of saying the same response. Here are some of my favourites.

7) Passenger: "How much is it to use the toilet?"
Me: "€1 for a number 1, €2 for a number 2, and 5 cents for each piece of toiler roll you use"

8) Passenger after looking for the toilet by trying to open the flight deck door, looking all over the galley, trying to open the toilet door, and even opening up a really small compartment which is near the ceiling.
Passenger: "Where is the toilet?"
Me (pointing to the exit door which they came in through): "Go out that door, down the stairs, take a right, and it's right in front of you"

9) Passenger: "Which toilet is the ladies?"
Me: "The one your husband just went into, I'd be worried if I were you. Especially because there was another women in there too .... They are unisex toilets mam."

10) Handing over a credit card slip for a passenger to sign.
Passenger: "Do I not have to enter my pin number?"
Me: "Oh yes sorry, if you can just put your pin number on the dotted line as well"

Would you believe there are passengers who fall for these???

I also saw a great article online. It was a letter written by a cabin crew to the public. I thought it was great. How many times a day do I apologize for things that I can't control?? Letter to the public

Enjoy!!