I hope you had a happy and healthy July! ☀️ It’s been a busy month at the A+N household - my partner and I spent a few weeks at my Mom’s place in Ontario, went back to England for a few days (where I am now) and then off again to Portugal for a wedding! 😅 Busy!!
I’m writing this groggy with jet lag so please ignore the grammatical errors 👀
Our time in Ontario was great - although we did get Covid from someone on the flight over… (cheers, pal!) but thankfully it was the quickest illness I’ve had in a LONG time. After we recovered, we spent our time laying by my Mom’s pool, going for walks, seeing old friends and BBQing in the backyard. Literally all my favourite things to do ☀️🌳🌭
Going home when you’ve been away for a year is hard to explain (unless you’ve done it yourself). It can be overwhelming with the amount of memories and nostalgia hitting you all at once. The best way I can describe it is if you went back to your childhood home to stay for a few weeks, having not seen or lived in that place for a long time. The home would be set up exactly (or near enough) as to how you left it.
It’s crazy what memories resurface (and just how many!)
But I’m so grateful I’m able to go home every year - I know not all expats are as lucky.
A+N Updates
I took some time off from Twitch this month while I’ve been travelling and I’m very grateful for the community not forgetting about me while I’m gone 🥲 But I have been planning our massive livestream marathon for the end of August!
If you’d like to join, I’ll be live on Twitch starting August 23 and I’ll stay live as long as the community decides! Every donation will add time to the clock. It’s become an annual tradition and it’s one of the most fun (and exhausting) things I’ve ever done lol Our theme this year is A+N Summer Camp 🏕️ so I’ve been planning loads of challenges, funny events and weird props! Come join us!! It’s free!
If you want to join in on our usual streams, please pop over to Twitch! I’m live every Sunday and Wednesday night, starting at 5:30pm BST.
On Youtube this month I reacted to the funniest moments in British politics, plus unique sounds that remind me of England. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone this month and went on a British museum adventure solo! I’m really happy people seemed to have enjoyed that one.
Originally I wasn’t going to film much in Canada but a cool sponsor came through at the last minute, so I filmed British things I miss while I’m in Canada 🇨🇦🇬🇧 Hope you liked that one, too!
With such a chaotic summer, it’s looking like I’ll miss a Youtube upload in August (a video I was working on fell through - it happens). So please don’t forget me when I miss a week! 🫣
If you’d like to watch a bonus full-length weekly video, please consider joining me on Patreon or Youtube Memberships. I post the same content on each platform, but I know some people prefer staying on Youtube or vice versa.
This month for my exclusive content I reacted to more crazy British PSAs, chaotic packing for Canada and a pool-side Canada Q&A! Since I’ll likely miss a YT upload, a big thank-you to the exclusive A+N community - your support in times of missed uploads keeps the lights on and I really appreciate it!!!!!!
What I’ve been watching + reading
Every month I pick a book for an informal Book Club on our Discord (available to certain tiers on Patreon/YT Members) and I try to choose something a bit different each month 📚 This time I picked The Wager: a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder by David Grann and I LOVED it ⚓ It covers the true events of the British ship the Wager and its shipwreck in 1740 as researched through the sailors logbooks and journals. Grann does such a good job at making the material easy to read and really exciting. I enjoyed it so much I think I’ll go back and read more of Grann’s books! If you’re looking for a new book, I’d totally recommend it.
As for TV and movies, I’ve been watching loads of Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares on Youtube… lol honestly it’s such a comfort-watch. I remember seeing them on TV when they first aired back in 2012-ish, but it’s been really fun going back and watching the full episodes on YT 🧑🏻🍳 We also watched Hit Man and The Fall Guy which were both fun, too!
Bits that made me laugh
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you had a great July wherever in the world you’re reading this. As always, if you have a video idea you’d like to see for the channel, please let me know! I’m so grateful I get to make these videos and I really appreciate all your support 🙏🏻
Alanna x