What a life

 This week I have been giving ski lessons to two of the children staying in my chalet.

It's actually pretty good fun and, as a consequence, I'm able to enjoy the luxury of lunch on the slopes.

I thought I'd share this with you; it's a delicious tuna salad I had yesterday at Sun Bar over in Val D'Isere, after having skied The Face (the Men's Olympic Downhill slope).

Sun bar Tuna Salad

From my table I had the most spectacular view, complete with vibrant blue skies, and hot hot sun. So hot, in fact, that I am now really sunburnt. But it was definitely a gorgeous lunch and a yummy meal!

The view from my table over to The Face

And, to top it all off, this morning, when I woke up I was greeted by the sight of thick snow falling and a winter (well, now it's Spring, but anyway) wonderland outside my window.

This is what I saw:

The view from my window this morning

I didn't really expect so much new fresh snow this late in the season, but I'm certainly not complaining!

Change

Have you noticed something a bit different about Miss Ambitious? She's had a nice little makeover just in time for the warmer summer months! 

The fresh, vibrant new colour scheme of the blog will hopefully brighten up your reading... Plus, after five months of snow I'm kind of sick of white. Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think. 

Achieving happiness

Okay, firstly to warn you, this post is probably a bit deep and reflective, so if you're not in the mood for reflective reading, then perhaps give this one a miss.

Recently I've been highly aware of my own personal happiness. I am at a stage in my life where it's okay to take the time to think about what makes me happy and, if I'm not happy, to change my situation in order to reach that state of self-contentedness. It's selfish, and it's okay.

I suppose that my methods for achieving inner peace might not be acceptable to some; I don't have a career yet and I have probably been a bit irresponsible with the rock n' roll lifestyle. Some would describe my sabbatical as 'putting real life on hold' and, in certain respects, I have put it on pause for a year to see what else is out there. Except that I don't really think my life is on hold at all. I would say that it is the exact opposite. These last four months have been unbelievably dynamic and so so rich with new experiences.

Lately, the way I've found myself spending my days (and nights) has been the absolute definition of 'living'. I've encountered so many different experiences, all of which are adding to my accumulative bank of memories which form who I am. This period of time is one of growth. I am so clear now about who I am, what I stand for and what I am or am not willing to accept from those around me. This can only be learnt through experience, it can't be taught, nor can anyone else try to help you learn it. You must discover it for yourself.

I think that the only way one can truly grow is by stepping out of his or her comfort zone and broadening one's horizons. It's about meeting new people and doing things you might not normally do. Looking back on it all I can probably tick the 'Miss Adventurous' box. These past four months have given me a plethora of crazy tales to tell but, most importantly, I am now in a space of self-contentedness.

In one of my favourite books, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, she writes about happiness. I find it profound. Feast on her words, even re-read them if you fancy:

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it." 

These words ring true for me. Of course achieving happiness is a constant effort, yet it is one with reward. Have you found true happiness?

Strolling in snow

Lake walk

After almost  four months of skiing it is now becoming less exciting to pull on the ski gear and head up the mountain day after day. Don't get me wrong, I usually really love it once I'm up there, it's just the getting there that can be a struggle.

So I have taken to doing other sorts of activities during the day between morning and evening work. One of my favourite ways to chill out and relax is to go for a walk in the snow and I thought I would show you some of the photos that I have taken recently on my wanderings.

Included in my journeys was a walk up the 'Summer Road', which is a skiable piste and is entirely up-hill. It was a bit of a mission, but so worthwhile once I made it to the top. Also, although you get quite hot, you're still cooled down by the snowy temperatures which are refreshing and, when you've reached the top, you can simply catch a chairlift back down to the bottom again.

The only problem with walks like these is that I can't find anyone who is keen to join me. Somehow the lure of watching a film in bed seems to far outdo the opportunity to get sweaty and do some exercise. Fair enough I suppose.

In the walking 'zone'

So pretty

The lake in Les Brevieres

So. much. ice

Frozen waterfall

The Boisses bubble

A little bit warm

L'Eglise at Boisses

At the top of Boisses

This week we have the Winter X Games which are being hosted in Val Claret. They are set to be very impressive and I am really excited to get out there and watch some amazing skiing and boarding. We've been watching some of the pros as they practice over the past few days. If you get a chance to check it out on television, definitely do. You'll see some incredibly talented people doing things you never thought possible.

Palafour and Pancakes

Palafour party

This week has been full of fun times! My friends and I took our beers up to the top of one of the runs in Tignes called the Palafour on a sunny afternoon this week and soaked up the rays while listening to music and having snowball fights. It was awesome - and so surreal - to just be chilling in the snow with friends, without any pretenses, just enjoying everyone's company.

Beers in the sun

Despite having to chase a lone snowboard down the mountain, only to find it stuck in a barrier about 500 metres down the piste, we all safely managed to make our way back after our drinking sesh. The ride back down to Brevieres was amazing. Everyone was buzzing and just skied so effortlessly so that, in less than fifteen minutes, we were home.

This week has also included a lovely lunch at one of the village's restaurants, La Sachette. I had a coffee and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. So yummy! Everyone else had pizzas and delicious soups and pastas.

Fortunately I saved space for what was to come next. Pancakes! For it was Shrove Tuesday and everyone knows you have to have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

We even made ours with candied lemon served with the obligatory lemon juice and sugar. We all ate them outside on the balcony with the table nicely laid. Very civilized.

The pancake making

We have also had a bit of a room change this week so that I now only share my room with Sarah (and another gorgeous girl called Milly, though she doesn't generally sleep in our room). The room looks so much nicer. We have magazines on top of a silk cloth, with a gold filigree art/deco style mirror in the corner, and amazing images on the walls taken from Elle magazine and In Style. It's so nice to have an inviting space to come back to and means that we can now have people into our rooms just to chill and to have drinks with or to watch a movie with, rather than being embarrassed of the space.

I'm starting to realise just how little time there is left of the season and am making as much use of the time as I can. Even if I am not skiing every day and instead spend the day leisurely going to restaurants and making pancakes, these are all memories I am sure to keep well into the future.

Ellie Goulding : The Writer

So who buys CD's anymore, really? Well that's what I thought until I myself did it the other day. If I'm honest, I just couldn't resist, or face the idea of streaming her songs off YouTube anymore. Ellie Goulding's latest album, Bright Lights, is absolutely incredible.

This is one of my favourite songs on the album. It's called The Writer.

Ellie Goulding has also done a cover of Your Song by Elton John and, although it's taboo to say, I think she has might have done it better. What do you think?

Breaking out of the Brev Bubble

The snowy view from outside the window at work

On Monday night a group of the staff from my hotel decided to break out of the 'Brev bubble' and go out in Val Claret for something different.

We had pre-drinks at the Underground Bar beneath our hotel and drank the obligatory 'Drop Kick Ninja's' which have cider, lager, vodka and cassis in them. They pretty much guarantee you a good night and they didn't disappoint. At around half-twelve we got a taxi over to Val Claret - at this point it was snowing really heavily so we were all white in no time - and went to a bar called Saloon. Saloon was fun and quite chilled, with a good vibe to it.

We then made our way to one of the most sleazy places I have ever been, called The Melting Pot. It was crammed full of awful French men who took pleasure in preying on the girls in the club. I ended up wearing my ring on my wedding finger but to no avail really. All of us staff had such a good time dancing and drinking together and, although everyone was pretty gone, it was still amazing to be away from the usual partying routine. At about 4am Aaron (who I work with), Will and his girlfriend Flaps, and a new guy called Andy all headed over to the kebab shop for the customary post-Melting Pot feed. We made our way back to the hotel at about 4.30am and I was up for work at 7am.

The Tuesday morning breakfast service went surprisingly smoothly and although I was ridiculously tired I got through it. I crashed pretty heavily after that and didn't make it out skiing in the afternoon, but did manage a few laps around the lake on my afternoon walk, so it wasn't a complete waste of a day.

Although the past few weeks have been testing because of the Half-Term rush of people and a certain middle of season lull in enthusiasm from all of us staff, I think that we are all past that now and the morale amongst us has certainly lifted.

It's difficult to believe that there are less than eight weeks of the season left. With that ending looming I am starting to plan out what I am going to do afterwards. I am very excited to be spending five fun-filled days with my beautiful friend Sarah in Paris. We plan to visit the flea markets and go on lovely walks and to take photos and sketch and just soak up the Parisian vibes. Cannot wait!

Also putting together plans to head to Italy, Spain, France and then to Greece to meet up with the gorgeous Aussie girlies from school - the three Sarah's! Sarah-Jane (one of my absolute best friends) and I will then be journeying around Eastern Europe for about a month and our itinerary is already filling with exciting trips like a ferry ride from Corfu to Croatia.

This year away is so worthwhile and the adventures are wonderful. I am so pleased to have made the decision to take this sabbatical and am loving (almost) every minute of it.