Phoenix's Life

Missed Autumn

Hello friends,

Welcome to 2020! I hope your year has started of fantastic! We (Nugget and myself) have been a bit slow rolling with the new year and the new starts and all, hence why this is my first post.

This year I decided to not make any resolutions. I know, oh my what? No resolutions?

Yes, no resolutions for this gal. Instead I have decided to create a few goals for myself regarding ideas I have been wanting to work towards for a while now, just never dedicated enough time, energy or research into. I am quite excited and beginning to get into a decent groove over this last week. I always feel there is an extreme amount of pressure regarding the fresh start and resolutions, so I will be keeping mine to myself and quietly hustle away. Obviously, if any major goals get achieved I will write a post to keep you all in the loop of my life!

Even though I didn’t post really at all last year, I still feel like the family we have created here is a close one and I am excited to share my 202 with you all and grow this family!

So to start the new year off simple, I have put together a few photos from one of my fall drives to the more “Northern” part of Ontario. I hope you enjoy them! It was a very gloomy fall day so keep that in mind, raining on and off as well!

So in closing out, I am going to make it a priority to post on here at least once a week this year. That is a goal I will share with you guys 🙂

How has your new year started out? Do you have any resolutions or goals you would like to share with me? Tell me down in the comments below! Let’s start the new year with positive vibes together!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure, Uncategorized

Bourgeau Lake/Harvey Pass | Banff, AB Canada Pt. 2

Featuredby phoenixraay11 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post is a continuation of part one! If you haven’t read it yet, click here! 🙂

So we are now done our beautiful lunch, which was fruit, muffins, and peanut butter & honey sandwiches (so good!), and we are starting up to Harvey Pass! At this point I was exhausted, but I wanted to do it because of the views and pictures I could get haha

From Bourgeau Lake, it is about a 2.2 km slightly harder hike to Harvey Pass. This path leads to magnificent views.

Already the mountains are so beautiful. I have literally never been this high on a mountain before. We were so close to the top!

So you see that greyish rocky “path” … yeah that is what we hiked up. Let me tell you there was no path, we literally scrambled up rocks! Very loose rocks to say the least. I am so happy we had hiking poles because they helped soo much! Especially on the way down. You think they would help more on the way up, however it was very easy to slide on the way down and if you put your poles in front of you it helps a lot!

There is Bourgeau Lake where we ate lunch at! I actually could not believe how much farther up we hiked after the huge hike we did just to get to the lake!

Oh my gosh, this was the coolest part of the entire day I would have to say! Can you spot what is on top of the mountain?! It’s big horn sheep! There was quite a few of them up there, we could not believe that we actually saw them!

And this is the farthest we got on Harvey’s Pass. You can continue around the lake and up further, but we were exhausted and had a long hike back. We also wanted to get back to the car before dark and our hour drive home!

It was also so unbelievably windy at this point in the hike! I could not imagine going up higher on this mountain. We would have gotten blown off! It was so windy that it was hard to hear each other talk.

Literally soooo close to the top of the mountain! 🙂

My man trying to see the sheep. We could see them better in my camera then in his binoculars!

Still could not put my camera down even on the way back! I was in awe this entire hike….besides the fact that my legs were actually dying.

I looove glacial water. So beautiful.

This was a picture we took at the highest point we hiked, you can see how windy it was because of my hair and he is wearing his hat strap! haha Well I hope you enjoyed our hike! I would definitely recommend doing it even though it was a challenge, because I have been to the rockies a million times, but I have never seen sights like these before 🙂

Hope you guys enjoy living vicariously through my pictures! Would you continue to Harvey Pass or just stop at Bourgeau Lake?

Until next time,

xoxo

Personal

Oh hey there stranger

November 3, 2019January 11, 2020by phoenixraay20 Comments

Well hello there stranger, its been a while.

Do you guys even remember me? Remember who I am or my purpose being here? Well if you don’t it is okay, because a lot has changed since I have posted last.

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. I have no clue where to begin. Life happens. Shit changes. We move on.

That pretty much sums up my 2019 so far.

Life update: I am still doing my same job, environmental consultant, just with a different company. I have moved a few times to different apartments, but I am still technically in the Ottawa area. I have fallen out of relationships, gone through some pretty crazy ones, and have began new ones with new people. One thing I have learned is to not let anyone stunt your growth as a person; same goes for aspirations. I have learned to surround myself with people that will lift me up rather than drag me down and tie up my wings. (FYI if you ever want to fly, you need those wings to spread)

I am still young I know, however I am gradually getting older (this is a fact that most of us like to ignore). Still being in the faze of my life that I am (aka not knowing what the heck I am doing) its slightly scary. Although, I have realized that it does not need to be as scary as it seems when you learn to care less about other peoples judgement. I am just doing my own thing, getting by in life while I try to figure out my end goals.

Now I have yet to come to a conclusion yet about what those end goals are, but I am attempting to piece together little goals regarding the bigger final picture. Maybe one day I will figure all these pieces out and share my strategy with you. Until then though, I will keep writing aimless blogs about my life and weird adventures I go on.

Oh and on another note, you will all be very excited about this – or at least should be, I am now a mother! I know I know you probably were not expecting this, but I am the proud mother of a puppy. She is one of the best decisions I have ever made in life. I am not going to give too much away about her right now because that will be the next post, so you will have to stay tuned!

That is all the word vomit I have for you at the moment. Please leave comments below letting me know how you guys have been. I want to know what is new with you and if anything exciting has happened!

Until next time,

xoxo

Personal

October Recap | 2018

November 5, 2018December 22, 2019by phoenixraay7 Comments

Hello friends,

Well, October felt like it came and left in a flash. I actually cannot believe we are already nearing the end of 2018. It feels like just yesterday I was posting my 2018 new years resolutions haha definitely wasn’t yesterday!

October was not nearly as exciting for me as September was. No big events happened and I didn’t try anything too new. School has been getting busier and the assignments are taking longer to complete. A new class actually just started this past week, so that adds even more work to my load (don’t worry it was not a surprise haha we all knew it started half way through the semester). This new class sounds like it could be interesting though, it is based around entrepreneurship, which is something I have always toyed with the idea of. The teacher is a very motivational speaker too – I will keep you updated on whether it turns out to be good or not!

Throughout this semester so far I have realized a few things about myself though. I am not an extremely terrible drawer, just mediocre at best haha and I do not enjoy it what so ever. I would rather be doing data entry then drawing and shading – but you know, now I know! You live and you learn. I have found some of my strengths and also been tested with other areas too.

October brought great fall activities that I haven’t been able to enjoy before though. We had beautiful weather for quite a bit of it and then we crept into the cool and crisp fall weather, which I love. It has rained a lot recently, but we also did get our first snowfall (which is now melted). I did many fall activities and I have realized that visiting a haunted house where the lines are massive is not my idea of a super enjoyable night haha although I am extremely happy we went because it brought me back to the good ol’ days of dating. I felt like we were back in high school – and the hot chocolate at the end to warm me up was the cherry on top of the cake. In October I made my own pumpkin seeds for the first time though and I must say it was quite exciting and delicious!

Anyways to conclude my thoughts, October is over and now we are in November. Not sure how exciting it will be, but I did get my first Christmas ornament of the season today at Costco so that is pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

How was your October? What was your highlight of the month – mine was taking pictures of the pretty fall leaves before they fell onto the ground where they are now!

Recent Posts:

The Black & Red Swan

Spooky Halloween Tag 2018

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Until next time,

xoxo

Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week #8

November 2, 2018December 3, 2018by phoenixraay9 Comments

Hello friends,

If you didn’t know I had a facebook page where I share pictures and links to my blog anytime I a new post goes up! You can click the link to like and follow the page if you want! 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/phoenixraayphotography/

You can also follow this blog by going to the home page and clicking the 3 dots in the top corner and hitting follow!

Here is my picture of the week!

We have recently gotten our first little snow fall in Ottawa, ON, but I did not get any pictures of it so I thought I would bring back an old picture with a bit of snow! I love the first snow fall, it gets me all excited for winter! And with winter comes Christmas! haha I know its early, but its the best time of the year!

Have you gotten your first snowfall yet where you live?

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Picture of the Week #7

Exploring Haunted Houses at Saunders Farm!

Until next time,

xoxo

Personal

Spooky Halloween Tag 2018

October 31, 2018December 3, 2018by phoenixraay12 Comments

Hello friends,

In the spirit of Halloween I thought I would do a Halloween Tag to let you in on a few of my spooky ideas and thoughts! Here it goes!

1. Favourite horror or Halloween-themed song?

One eyed one horn flying purple people eater (click here to listen if you don’t know it!)

2. Name something you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark forest or in an abandoned building.

Probably Lord Voldemort

3. Have you ever played with an Ouija Board?

I think maybe once in like grade 6 but I am not entirely sure if it was real or fake

4. Favourite horror monster or villain?

Cruella Deville (Does she count? lol I love the little Dalmatian puppies)

5. The creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?

Nothing too creepy has ever happened to me while I was alone actually! Just weird noises but I am sure its all in the head!

6. If you were dared to spend the night in a “haunted house”, would you do it?

Yes I would as long as I could bring my mom with me because I know she would love that! haha

7. Are you superstitious?

Yes in a way I guess. I make wishes at 11:11 and when I have an eyelash fall out? But on the other hand I think black cats are cute and not bad luck so thats my answer!

8. Do you ever see figures in your peripheral vision?

Yes when there are figures there 😂

9. Which urban legend scares you the most?

Not sure if I have really payed attention to any …

10. Do you prefer gore or thrillers?

Definitely thrillers – way more interesting!

11. Do you believe in multiple dimensions or worlds?

Yeap!

12. Ever made a potion of any sort?

When me and my sister were younger we use to mix condiments together and pretend it was a potion…

13. Do you get scared easily?

Yes and no – really depends on my mood

14. Have you ever played Bloody Mary?

Yeah and I was scared at the time but it never worked for me or my friends

15. Do you believe in demons/the devil?

Nah

16. You’re home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do you do?

Don’t go check it out like everyone in scary movies does – I call my dad or boyfriend instead 😂

17. If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?

Does Hocus Pocus count?!

18. If you could only wear one halloween costume for the rest of your life, what would you be?

I would buy one of those giant blow up sumo wrestler costumes and be that

19. would you ever go to a graveyard at night?

Yup and I have lots of times.

20. In a zombie apocalypse what is your weapon of choice?

A samurai sword duh

21. Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go trick or treating?

Trick or Treating 100% (hard core introvert)

22. You’re in a horror movie. Are you the final girl, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer?

The comic relief

23. Do you have to watch something happy after watching a horror movie so you can go to sleep?

I like to try to but usually one movie does it for me and I pass out 5 minutes into the comedy

24. Whilst watching scary movies, are you the person who yells at the characters, the person with their eyes covered the whole time, or the person who falls asleep?

In the beginning I am the person with my eyes covered and by the end I am the one who has finished the popcorn and is snoring.

25. Are you the one who gets scared, or the one who does the scaring?

Well I am not good at scaring people so I guess I am the one who gets scared

26. Favorite scary book?

Don’t have one

27. How old were you when you saw your first horror movie?

I think grade 6 maybe, so however old you are in that grade

28. What was your first Halloween costume?

I can’t remember what my very first one was, but I know I was every kind of witch there was when I was younger so probably a witch

29. What are you going to be for Halloween this year?

An adult 😂

30. If you could have a spooky halloween pet (black cat, owl, bat, rat, wolf), what would you pick?

Wolf – I had a dog that was half wolf and he was the most massive, gentle giant you ever did see.

Well I hope you enjoyed that Halloween tag and now I tag all of you to answer those questions on your own blog or in the comments below! If you have your own Halloween tag already up, link it in the comments so I can see your answers!

Also, let me know if you’re dressing up for Halloween this year or what your kids are being! Cute kids are the best when they come to your door to get candy haha just adorable!

Recent Posts:

The Black & Red Swan

Picture of the Week #7

Exploring Haunted Houses at Saunders Farm!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

The Black & Red Swan

October 29, 2018December 22, 2019by phoenixraay8 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post is about an amazing swan we saw while touring around the United Kingdom.

The day started off touring around like most days do when you’re in a new place. It was mid-afternoon at this point and it was a bit chilly and windy! We were walking around in a residential neighbourhood and looking at all the old mansion houses – there were a lot of them! haha

Eventually we came across this really cool house. Not a stone mansion like we have been seeing, but probably my favourite house yet. It looked like a house out of the hobbit movies with a thick straw roof!

It intrigued us so we went up to it. The backyard/side of house was full of thicker brush jutting out in all different directions. We saw that there was a pond in the backyard and there was movement in it! We kept trying to poke our heads over the fence and between the fence to see what was back there. That’s when we spotted the swans. There was a couple white ones but then this black beauty appeared.

This swan was the most gorgeous swan I have ever seen. Beautiful black feathers with a bright red beak. When it rustled its feathers and raised its wings, lush bright white feathers were revealed. This somehow amazed me even more. Such a beautiful animal.

It was hard getting any clear pictures because the brush was so thick, but I tried my best haha because my mom fell in love with this little guy. All she kept saying was “take a picture take a picture” and I replied with “I’m trying!” haha it was a comedy show to see.

Have you guys ever seen a swan that looks like this? Or one that isn’t white in colour? I would love to know in the comments below! 🙂

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Until next time,

xoxo

Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week #7

October 26, 2018November 10, 2018by phoenixraay4 Comments

Hello friends,

You can also follow this blog by going to the home page and clicking the 3 dots in the top corner and hitting follow!

Here is my picture of the week!

So this weeks picture is not one I have recently taken. It is actually from last fall when in lived in Calgary, AB! I have been very busy lately and haven’t had much time to get out to take new pictures; also, the pretty leaves of fall are almost all gone! The prime fall time leaf pictures have left and now it all just looks barren. Its getting me excited for frost pictures and then snow!

I hope you enjoy this flash back to Calgary and its beautiful fall season. I miss the views you could see of the city!

Is fall almost over where you live or are the beautiful colourful leaves still out?

Exploring Haunted Houses at Saunders Farm!

October 23, 2018January 11, 2020by phoenixraay11 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post will be about what I did this past weekend! It was full of fun Halloween festivities – the best kind of festivities at this time of year!

Friday morning I bought tickets for my boyfriend and I to go to Saunders Farm the following night. He had gone there years ago when he was younger and has been talking about it since we moved to Ottawa – so I knew we had to go! To be honest, I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I have only ever been to something like this once when I was in grade 7 with my best friend at the time. It was in Fort McMurray, so it was a lot smaller then Saunders Farm!

Since we arrived at the farm I could see there were so many things to do! Even though I bought night tickets, I made my boyfriend come early because I wanted to do the mazes haha like a little kid. I have no shame – they were the best part in my opinion! They had lots of mazes to pick from too. They ranged from ones for little kids to a very intense, hard, and long one! We ended up having to sneak through a hole to get out because the mazes were closing and we couldn’t find our way out! haha

They also had playgrounds for kids and a massive bouncy thing in the ground for them to jump on – it looked like lots of fun!

The sunset was also beautiful on Saturday night. The colours became more vibrant and intense as it set.

We left the mazes and headed to the scary stuff! The lines were huge so we only had the chance to do 2 things before I was completely frozen because it was around 0 degrees Celcius and we were outside for 3 hours! The first one we went through was called The Coven Witch Trail – it was almost dark by the time we got in and to be honest it was scary. It would have been even better if we had waited until it was fully dark out, but like I said the lines only kept getting longer! The second we went through was called The Barn of Terror. The first one we went through ended right by the entrance to this one so we decided to wait. The line did not look long at first….

As we walked past the hedges and get into the real line we see how long it is. After about 10 minutes of waiting we hit a sign that says 30 minute wait from here. I thought … okay I can do 30 minutes. It ended up being a 1.5 hour wait! Barley moving and freezing because we weren’t moving around. This is what killed my mood – if they know its going to be that long of a wait at least don’t lie on the sign! Anyways, I found The Barn of Terror a bit disappointing in the scare factor, but the makeup and decorations were amazing!

Once we finished up at the barn, I was frozen! We ended up grabbing some hot chocolate, to warm up my hands, and a few homemade treats to go! As soon as we got in the car, which we forgot where we parked it so finding it was an adventure in itself, we cranked the heat and headed home!

The next day, Sunday, was pumpkin carving day! I talked my boyfriend into buying a pumpkin when we went grocery shopping – I coaxed him by saying I would cook up the pumpkin seeds! It took us a while to pick out what we wanted to carve into it. Eventually we decided to google pumpkin carving ideas and we came upon a Harry Potter one. We felt like we were in one of the Harry Potter movies while going through those mazes made of hedges, so we thought it was a good fit! And now because I am an artist (LOL) I drew it out. I got to carve the scar and mouth while the boy claimed the eyes.

The pumpkin seeds I roasted were cinnamon brown sugar flavour. To create this master piece you have too:

Pick out seeds & clean them.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt 1 tbsp butter in a bowl. Then mix in 1.5 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon.
Toss the seeds in the mixture and then spread them out on a lined baking sheet.
Place sheet in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Taking out to flip (or stir around) half way.
Let cool on baking sheet – then eat!

The recipe is so simple and they turned out delicious! Its perfect for a first timer like me!

All in all, we had a great festive weekend. Ending with the best sweet treat ever for this time of year!

Sorry for the quality of the pictures by the way, they were taken on the iphone!

Have you done anything Halloween related yet this year? Have you been to a haunted house or carved pumpkins?! Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

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Until next time,

xoxo

Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week #6

October 19, 2018October 26, 2018by phoenixraay7 Comments

Hello friends,

You can also follow this blog by going to the home page and clicking the 3 dots in the top corner and hitting follow!

Here is my picture of the week!

This picture was taken at the Carleton University Butterfly Exhibit. It was hot, humid and over crowded in there with the little butterflies – but it was also a school assignment so I had to go! haha I don’t enjoy seeing animals trapped like this, I prefer observing them in nature. However, I thought I would post one of the few good pictures I got from this experience since it taught me how to shoot over peoples heads while being rammed into by little kids running around.

Tip: high shutter speed is ket when dealing with little kids in a small room!

Have you ever been to a butterfly exhibit? If so, did you enjoy it? If not, would you like to go see one?