Hello January, Hello 2015

December has officially left the building. It doesn’t feel as though it was one week ago that I went to Liverpool with my boyfriend, though in reality we actually went one month ago. December has just completely flown by and the past few days have had me thinking about December and also the year 2014.

2014

For me, 2014 has been a bit of a plain year. Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fair share of ups and downs throughout the year but when I look at what has happened/what I have done, it isn’t a lot. I went to America in January 2014 where I learned a lot about myself; it was an amazing experience and great start to the year. A little over a month after I got back, my boyfriend and I moved into a small flat together. After our 6 month lease was up, we decided to move out (it was super expensive!) and we moved in with my family, which is where we are now, and that is about it.

Of course there are smaller events that have happened - I went to see a Cirque show, I celebrated my 20th birthday, I saw Disney on Ice, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend, I started this blog, etc - but I can’t say that it has been a great year in terms of personal development, barring my America trip in January, and that is something that I would like to change this year.

2015

Currently, there is only one thing that I know for certain will happen in my 2015, which is a piece of news I am super excited to share with you guys:

I am going to DisneyWorld in Orlando!

It is official, we have booked it. I am going with my boyfriend (and my sister is going with her boyfriend and child at the same time) in September 2015. I had been reluctant to mention anything on my blog about it as it is so far away in terms of time, though recently I have realised just how much planning needs to happen for it to be a successful holiday. My plans are to research what to do within the next few weeks, book any necessary tickets and also look at what I need to buy over the next eight paydays in order for my trip to be successful (i.e. walking shoes, filter bottles, etc) and I am thinking it might be worthwhile to track my progress via monthly/alternate monthly updates on my blog but we will see.

As for the rest of 2015, I would love to go away on a beach holiday for my 21st in May/June but, being honest, I am not confident that will happen as my boyfriend is rubbish at saving.

Bar the holiday I am going on and the one I wish to go on, there is nothing else planned other than lots of saving and hopefully a massive expansion of my blog in terms of content, reach and readers. I would love to venture into the world of YouTube but I haven’t the confidence at the moment to put myself out there like that but we will see as the year progresses.

December

In December I...

• Went on a day trip to Liverpool with my boyfriend - it was nice to spend the day with him and, even though we walked 27,000 steps and were dead on our feet by the end of the day, it was so worth it. We did a bit of shopping, had a hot chocolate and brownie in Hotel Chocolat and my boyfriend was able to buy some keyrings from the Lego shop (sometimes, I wonder if he is 8 or 28!)
• Helped organise and went to my work’s Christmas party - it wasn’t a bad night, but it definitely wasn’t the best for me. I’m not so much of a party girl and I was really struggling with my confidence on that night, though it was lovely to get glammed up as I don’t get a chance to wear a full face of heavy make-up often.
• Completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge - at the start of the year, I challenged myself to read 26 books in 2014, i.e. one book every fortnight. During December, I finished reading the book Abducted which meant that I completed the challenge! I also read the short novel Gone and am currently close to finishing The Gift by Cecelia Ahern.
• Got ill - my boyfriend contracted a cold at the start of December and I did quite well not to get it at first but unfortunately, by about 18th December, I had stolen it from him. My throat was sore, I had a runny nose, it hurt to breathe and my head felt very bunged up too. It went away after a few days and by Christmas Eve, I was nearly back to normal, aside from a slightly blocked nose. And then as the day progressed, my cold came back with a vengeance. It wasn’t awful and - touch wood - I am over it now, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience to spend Christmas with a cold!
• Finished the cross-stitch! - in November, I started a birth sampler cross-stitch for my nephew. I had wanted to finish it in November but life in the way and I ended up finishing it on Christmas Day, actually, when my sister, her boyfriend and their son went up to her boyfriend’s mum’s house. The trouble came after I had finished it, however. The frame I had bought didn’t have a removable back but rather one that had an open top for you to slide the picture in. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I had a picture, but obviously fabric is thicker than a picture, especially when it is folded two or four times thick in some areas. We ended up pulling the back off with the intention to glue back on when the fabric was positioned correctly, but then we realised we had no glue. We sellotaped it in place and, even though the presentation was pretty awful after that, my sister and her boyfriend were still incredibly appreciative.
• Celebrated Christmas - of course, no December would be complete without Christmas. For our family, this year was quite a small Christmas but the thing that mattered most to me was the fact that it we were all together and able to spend time as a family.
• Ate really unhealthily - I got four boxes of Guylian’s Belgian Chocolate for Christmas so my health was bound to go out of the window a little bit. However, I have completely embraced that and eaten really poorly in the past few days/weeks but honestly, I am not ashamed, nor am I guilty. I know that it won’t last as I plan to get back on track with my health and fitness in the next couple of weeks so for now, I have been enjoying feeling guilt-free while eating rubbish!
• Successfully completed Blogmas! - there were times when I didn’t think I would do this as I really didn’t want to blog on some days, but I pushed through and completed the challenge!

I didn’t manage to get everything done that I had wanted to do throughout December but I’m not worrying too much at the moment as I know that have accomplished a lot.

January

Of course, no monthly post would be complete without some aspirations/events for January. As far as events go, there are only four things I can think of:

• My mother’s birthday
• My car tax
• My MOT (please, Leo, don’t fail me now! Last year it cost me £450 to fix all of the problems with my car and I don’t fancy paying that out again!)
• Time off work!

I am really looking forward to the last bullet point as I feel slightly run down by work at the moment, hopefully a nice, long break will recharge my batteries a little.

Currently, I am feeling quite motivated to get a lot done - whether this will last I don’t know, but I will work hard so that it does.

Throughout the next month, I would like to:

• Write a substantial amount of Nyx
• Write down memories/sweet notes on small pieces of paper and put them in a jar to read next January
• Read! (of course, though I would like to read one non-fiction book at least)
• Continue with learning Spanish
• Begin some sort of exercise regime to tone-up and also help my fitness
• Drink 2L of water per day
• Learn something related with education: maybe some chemistry or biology or something. I miss education quite a lot and if I ever want to go back in to it, I want to be prepared and up-to-date, so I think I would benefit from relearning old bits/learning new pieces of science!
• Feel happier about myself than I do now

I think that the last point will be the hardest to measure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at a low point in my life, I just feel a little empty currently. I’m not so proud of who I am at the moment, or what I am doing with my life, and that makes me feel pretty poopy. I wish to slowly (and thus permanently) turn my life around so that I can be happy and proud of who I am, what I am doing and what I have achieved!

I apologise for the long post, I realised I have a lot to say in summary of December and the rest of 2014… If you have made it this far then congratulations and thank you!

Have you got any goals/resolutions for 2015? What is happening for you in the next year?


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