Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

Happy New Year everyone!

I can't believe 2015 has gone already. I feel like it was just a bat of the eyelids ago that I was in Sydney celebrating New Years Eve. But here we are starting a whole new year all over again.

I hope the beginning of your 2016 has been lovely and relaxing and you managed to find some time to chill out, reflect on the past 365 days and think about goals and aspirations for the next.

For me 2015 was an incredible year filled with laughter, experiences and so much happiness. It was one of the greatest years I've had and it was the year I feel like I really realised how I want to spend my life and some of the big things I want to achieve which is important to me. I gained a lot if life lessons and skills in 2015 and had some once in a lifetime experiences that I'll never forget.

I really want 2016 to be as amazing for me but in, obviously, a different way. I'm hoping it will be the year I make the first steps on the way to my dream job, get somewhere to a first house and carry on trying new things. 

In terms of the blog I want to bring some new things into it. More recipes of my own, more lifestyle and home things and also more projects. Jack is a great carpenter and I'm hoping I can use some of his skills to introduce some big home and lifestyle projects to the blog. 

One blog I really love is VDM and in particular her 'Fitness Files' entries, which are a monthly occurrence where she details her month in fitness. This year is the year where I'm determined to really get fit and get into fitness again. I'll have the time and the daily routine to really make fitness a part of my daily life so hopefully that along with healthy eating will be something I can include here.

Obviously I have goals, as I always do because I am a massive believer in and lover of goal setting and you'll see them here soon as well as a lot more Australian esque posts of things I still haven't detailed from our trip. 

So yeah, there's a lot of plans that I have in mind for this little corner of the internet so make sure you follow me on Bloglovin, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date. And on Instagram for the in between stuff.

I hope you have a wonderful start to the New Year and good luck if you're going back to work or school or starting something new today. 

Let me know what your plans for the year are,

Until next time

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Reviewing resolutions

Happy February everyone. Yes, the second month of the year is officially upon us (which is a little hard to believe, it's all going so quickly already) and that means we've all already had a whole month, 31 days to be exact, to get to grips with our resolutions and start working to make sure we don't get to the end of the year feeling we've let ourselves down. 

I set myself five resolutions for this year and I'll be honest I haven't done a particularly good job at making a start on all of them but here's a little review and a look at what I've been doing towards each one over the past 31 days. 

1) Be more consistent with my exercise routine. 

So far this year, apart from walking Bear and Charlie near on every day, I've done little to no exercise. More on the no scale here. I don't know why, I've had the time, space and means to do any exercise I desire but yet I've done none of the usual workouts or runs. I have been walking the dogs for roughly 30 minutes everyday so that's something I suppose but not quite what I'd hoped. So all in all this resolution will be one I'll really focus on throughout February. 

2) Get up earlier.

This has been relatively successful. Apart from weekends I've been up by 8am everyday and my goodness do I feel good for it. I feel a lot more energised and ready for a full day of doing stuff so I'm glad I made this resolution. This month I'll be trying to combine my getting up earlier with the regular exercise and hopefully more progress will be made. 

3) Take more photos.

Again this has been pretty successful. I haven't taken a photo everyday but I've taken more photos when I've had days where I'm taking photos. I've definitely documented more and I'm so glad about that because, particularly while I'm doing such fun and new things while travelling, I don't want anything to go forgotten. 

4) Make the healthiest choices.

This one has been successful for the most part too. Weekends not always, sometimes I find myself indulging a little on Saturday and Sunday but not anything to bad and let's be honest it's the weekend. However, on the whole I've felt like I've been a lot healthier throughout this month and like the waking up earlier it's definitely made me feel better - less lethargic and less bloated. 

5) Reading resolutions.

Yep I'm combining all of my reading resolutions into one for this monthly occurrence on the blog, mainly so as not to bore you and so you might actually get to the end of the post. So my reading hasn't been too good. I didn't even finished one book in the last month which is disappointing for me. I'm finding the book I'm reading to be on of those books where once you've picked it up you don't want to stop but getting to it and picking it up feels a bit of an effort so I think that's got something to do with it however, I'm hoping to finish it in the first week of February and then we'll be more on track. I've got some good books I'm really looking forward to getting to so keep your eyes out for a review soon hopefully.

So there we go, mostly the resolutions are going well I feel. How about you? How are your resolutions going? Don't forget to let me know in the comments.

Until Wednesday,

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Reading goals 2015

Last year was the first year I decided to make 'reading resolutions'. It's not something I've really ever felt the need to make resolutions for, I read what I want, when I want and I enjoy it. However, last year I fancied setting a couple of challenges and also thought it would be a good way to cut down my TBR pile.

Well it would have been had I not failed a completing a single one of my reading resolutions. Every single resolution I made fell by the wayside when I started my course and then came out here to travel. My TBR pile is still insanely high and it still includes all the 'Song of Ice and Fire' books I haven't read, my bookshelf at home is still largely full of un-read books, I didn't read any non-fiction and I definitely didn't complete the 50 books challenge. So I think fail is the only word for the reading resolutions of 2015.

Nonetheless that has not put me off making more reading goals for this coming year. I did enjoy the idea of challenging my reading habits slightly and there are goals I actually have for reading so I figured why not?

This year instead of 50 books I've set my Goodreads challenge at 25 books. A lot more achievable for me as I continue to travel. Don't forget to follow me over there though to see what I'm reading and instant reviews when I finish the books. 

I want to try and read at least two books a month this year, with at least one of those being a book from my Kindle. Two books a month is very achievable considering I used to easily read four or five. I still have a heap of books on my Kindle, some that have been there since I got it so this year I really want to make the effort to knock some of those books into a 'read' pile. 

Reading more diversely is something I really want to try. A lot of my favourite booktubers and book bloggers are also doing this, this year so hopefully I'll get inspiration from them. I've found I often stick to the same genres and most of the authors I read from are American or English so this year I want to broaden out into more genres and also to authors from different cultures and countries and also that are writing about different cultures and countries. 

Last year I challenged myself to read 5 non-fiction books and as already stated I read none. This year I just want to read some non-fiction, no set amount just some. If I read one non-fiction book I'll be happy although I'd like to read more. 

Again, I've already said my TBR pile hasn't really shrunk over the last year. This year I want to change that. I want to try and half my TBR, including both physical books and kindle books. I know I won't read all the books that I own that I haven't read because most are in England and my TBR pile is enormous but I'd be happy with around half. 

Let's hope I'm more successful with those reading goals than I was last year. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for #currentlyreading posts and of course on Goodreads. 

Have you made any reading goals for the year? If you have let me know in the comments below and also let me know if you have any good non fiction recommendations. 

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New Year Resolutions 2015

It's traditional, another year and another set of resolutions. People say 'you shouldn't need a new year to decide you want to do something or change something', well I disagree. If you need a new year as a kick up the bum to do something you want to then why not. A fresh diary, a new note book and a whole new set of 365 days is a great way for me to get motivated into doing things. Last year I was quite successful with seeing through my resolutions to the end and I felt a lot better for it. Hopefully this year will be the same. 

This year I really want to be more consistent with my exercise. That was resolution number one in case you were confused. I really made an effort last year to get into exercise and I did. I feel a lot fitter than I did last year and I've found the exercise I enjoy doing, which in my eyes is the key to being successful with exercise. However, there were various points throughout the year where I didn't do any exercise for weeks at a time and I felt bad for that and it was always harder to get back into it. 

This year I plan to do regular and consistent exercise. I either want to run 3 miles, walk for at least 30 minutes or workout for 30 minutes, everyday. Yes you heard me everyday. Hopefully I can keep it up and I'm actually really looking forward to the challenge. 

I'm not necessarily a lazy person but getting up earlier is something I need to start doing. When I'm not working I have a tendency to lie in bed until 9-10am. Awful considering I'm in another country with so much to do and see and by the time I'm up and ready to face the day half of it has gone. 

But no more, from now on I want to be out of bed by 7.30, 8am at the latest with a plan for the day ahead. It means I get to do more, see more and just be out in the fresh air more which is what I love.

I love photography but I always get to the end of the day and think 'I wish I'd taken more photos'. So this year I want to take more photos. I hate feeling like a day has gone by un-documented, especially whilst travelling. This year I'm really going to make sure that doesn't happen. I want to take at least one photo everyday and when I get home I'm really looking forward to collecting all the good ones into a scrap book so I can look back and remember all the adventures Jack and I had. 

I want to be more creative this year. I love doing things and creating things and over the past year, maybe due to travelling I haven't done this as much. However, that's no excuse. I brought my pencils with me, I have tools to knit, I have notebooks to write in. Creativity is not hard I just have to stop putting it to one side. 

I definitely got healthier in 2014 however, I know I don't always make the healthiest choices and that's something I want to change. It's not really hard to do, fruit instead of a chocolate bar, rice crackers instead of crisps. You get the picture. I'm always striving to be as healthy as possible and this year I really want to make a go of it by consciously choosing the healthy option. 

So that's it. My resolutions for this year. What are you hoping to achieve this year? Let me know in the comments, and if any of yours are similar to mine we could do this thing together. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow! A whole year of this little blog existing and I never thought it would have had as many views as it has or that I'd even be blogging, semi-regularly, a year on. By this time last year I'd written five blog posts, I had tickets to get out to Australia and I was about to undergo a journalism course.

Oh how things have changed. I've now written 124 blog posts on various topics, I've been travelling and working in Australia for seven months and I'm now a gold standard qualified journalist. Wow! The past year has been rather amazing in so many ways. I've done things I'd never thought I'd do i.e. travel to Australia and work on farms for five months. I've learned a lot about myself, who I want to be and what I want to do. And I've learned that the longer you sit moping around about something you can't change the more you're missing out on. 

Later in the week I'm going to be posting my New Years Resolutions. Last years where largely successful. I definitely learned the benefits of being healthier, even if whilst travelling I haven't been the healthiest I know I feel a lot better when I am being healthy and active. I worry less, that's not to say I never worry because I definitely do but it's definitely not as much as before. I've seen more of the world than I'd ever thought I would have done a few years ago and I've definitely got the travel bug. I don't think there's been much of 2014 that I haven't enjoyed to the absolute fullest.

2015 is here now and I'm taking what I've learned and applying it to every aspect of this year. It's really time to grab the year by it's balls and go for it. 

I've already started conquering my fear of boats so it can only go up from there. 

Reading Resolutions | Wednesday Reads

So two weeks ago I posted about my general New Years Resolutions, they included the stereotypical get fitter, eat healthier blah, blah, blah but also a couple of personal things I want to work on (if you'd like to check them out click here). So if you read that, you may thinking, more resolutions why? Well these are my reading resolutions. If you read any book blogs or watch any 'BookTubers' you may be well aware of this as a thing, but if not these are essentially my reading goals for this coming year. 

So by the end of 2014, in terms of reading I wan to...

1) Finally complete the fifty books challenge. I've tried this the past couple of years but I always forget to update by GoodReads and then can never remember which books I've read. I'm fairly sure I completed it last year, but this year I'm going to make sure I record EVERY book I read on GoodReads, so make sure you follow me there to keep up with my progress.  Though, in a normal year, I'm capable of reading fifty books plus in the 365 days of the year, this year isn't exactly a normal year. Next week I start an intensive, fourteen week journalist course for which I'll be living away from home during the week, after that I have a week of work experience with a newspaper and then I'm off to Australia for goodness knows how long. Obviously I'll read whenever I get the oppurtunity, however, spare time isn't going to a frequent occurrence so I'm not convinced the fifty book challenge will be as easy this year. Hopefully the dreaded twenty four hour flight will give me oppurtunity to catch up. 

2) I have got tonnes of books on my bookshelf, some of which have been sat untouched for over a year. This year I want to complete all those books (Les Miserables included) before I buy any more. This should heavily contribute to 50 book challenge so two birds with one stone? 

3) This one you may already be aware off but I essentially want to finish about 50% of the books on my bookshelf before I journey off to Australia. For a more detailed information, check out my 'To Read Before Aus List' but if you can't really bothered to read a whole blog post about it I'll break it down for you quickly here. Basically, I don't want to take any hard copies of books to Australia due to weight restrictions so will only be taking my kindle, therefore so books aren't sat unread for another year I'm not going to touch my kindle until I sit in my seat for the flight and only read the hard copies on my shelf before I go. Bet you're wishing you'd not read the whole blog post and just waited for that condensed paragraph now. 

4) I've been getting through the 'Song of Ice & Fire' series by George R.R. Martin very, very slowly. I've read the first three but would like to read up to book five by the end of year. They're huge books so this could have a bit of a negative impact on the 50 books challenge but I really enjoy them so want to get on with the series, hopefully before the new series of the TV adaptation (A Game Of Thrones) airs in Britain. 

5) Overall, I don't read a lot of non-fiction. I used to read a-lot in school to support essays at A-Level, but since finishing those lovely exams and pieces of coursework (notice sarcasm) I've barely gone near the real stuff. This year I'd like to make more of an effort to read more non-fiction of any kind, learning stuff, biography stuff, historical stuff whatever it is just so long as it's not fiction. I'd like to read at least five though I'd really like to read more but I feel five is a good start. 

So those are my reading resolutions, remember to follow me on GoodReads for regular updates of my reading progress through the year. I'll also be giving you updates of the before Aus reading list at the end of each Wednesday reads, at present it 0. Good start I think you'll agree. 

Resolutions | Thursday Talks

If you honestly thought that the first Thursday Talks after New Years was going to be focused on any other topic other than New Years Resolutions, you have seriously misunderstood both me and this blog. A) I am a seriously lazy human being, you're lucky you even got an image at the beginning of this post, and so thinking of something obscure to post about, especially on the second day of the new year, was out of the question. B) This is a blog aimed at entertaining as many people as possible, and I don't know a soul who doesn't love hearing someone's New Years Resolutions, either to will them on or secretly laughing knowing failure is at the end of January. Either way here are my New Years Resolutions for entertainment of your choice.

1) BE HEALTHIER
It was obvious wasn't it? Who doesn't have this on their new years resolution list. After Christmas we all feel a little like we need to be healthier, but two weeks into January we're not sure it was a good idea. However, this year I'm determined. I was running more towards the end 2013 (and no not towards a free buffet, or away from a mass murderer, out of choice) and I want to re-light that energetic spark, combine it with some bedroom pilates (no I'm not being rude, I mean a DVD or internet series or something), and healthy eating. I will be bikini ready by May.

2) DON'T WORRY SO MUCH
Anyone who knows me knows I have a tendency to over think, over stress and over worry about anything and everything. Not only is, I am sure, infuriating for those around me to have to keep calming me down and reassuring me, it does very little in the way of my own happiness. This year I aim, as every year, to improve further on this. (Yes Jack, if you're reading this, this means in 2012 I was even more of a worrier than I was this year). I will not let things get me all worked up so easily, deep breaths, relaxing thoughts, calm. The way forward.

3) SEE MORE OF THE WORLD (or at least plan too) 
I want to see so many places it's ridiculous. I would go anywhere and everywhere just to soak in a little bit more of the world. I'm already going to Australia in May for goodness knows how long, but with that I hope will come the oppurtunity to see other places. New Zealand and Thailand are top of the list, but as Australia is likely to take up a large part of the year, and a large part of my funds, it may be that this year will just be planning to see more of the world. Maybe Canada, South America, Kenya. Too many places too little time.

4) (Finally) ENJOY MYSELF
As I am an anxious person just by nature, I often find I let things pass me by without really enjoying them, often seeing how things could go badly rather than how well they're going and enjoying that moment. This year I want to enjoy things more, want I'm doing, the company I'm keeping, what I'm experiencing. Rather than focusing on the future, focusing on the now and enjoying that. A bit of a deep one, but an important one.

So they're my New Years Resolutions, hopefully I'll stick to them, I suppose we'll find out next year.

Happy New Year everyone!