Hello 2017!

Hello there stranger! It’s been such a long time since my last post!

I didn’t mean to stop blogging. I love my little blog and I love the community I have built up with it over the last 4 years. I’m made some amazing friends and I love looking back at old posts that have captured some wonderful memories. Somehow, life got in the way however, and we drifted apart a little. A lot of the faces have changed since we last caught up, and I’m sad to have lost touch with some of the amazing bloggers I got to know, but with the New Year I am looking forward to a new challenge and meeting some new faces.

2016 was an amazing year for me. I got to travel to San Francisco, Orlando and Seattle. I became an auntie, I changed jobs to become a Business Development Manager. I have thrown myself into voluntary work, including completing my 5th blood donation and spending my Christmas with an isolated elderly person in addition to my weekly volunteering with the Royal Voluntary Service. I also ran three 10k races for Macmillan Cancer Support. Oh, and I discovered a love for geocaching (but more on that later…)

As you can see,

What I’ve Been Up To Recently…

Well, yesterday I handed in the final essay of the semester, which gives me two weeks off before I start semester too (that’s ignoring the fact that I have 30 books to read for next semester but still…) so I am enjoying (relative) freedom, around the reading and my overtime at work. Since I have been so bogged down in essays though, I haven’t had chance to share my recent activities on my blog. I have been doing quite a bit of crafting in general, and I have been making small steps towards some of my 23 before 23 goals.

Getting Organised/Having a Clear Out:

So, two of my goals were part of my aim to get myself organised and de-cluttered! While these are likely to take a long time to achieve completely, I have been making a start! I scoured Pinterest for some ideas on room organisation, and I created my Organisation Board, to get me in the mood. It certainly worked, because last week I had the urge to start my sorting with my wardrobe and drawers (which I generally hate…) I try to sort out my clothes pretty regularly, but they were well overdue. After a couple of hours pulling things out and trying things on, I was left with a bin bag for the tip and two boxes for the charity shop! There wasn’t masses to get rid of, but just clearing out some of my unnecessary stuff felt incredibly satisfying. I didn’t just stop there though…oh no! I put some of my Pinterest tips into practice to make my clothes storage work better for me. I began by adding some drawer dividers into my socks and underwear drawer, to prevent it from being such a free-for-all when I was getting ready in a morning.

My second drawer holds my t-shirts, hats, scarves and gloves, now nice and accessible.

A New Me for 2013

I’m not a huge believer in new years resolutions as I try to ‘be the best I can’ and make changes to be a better person throughout the year and I don’t like using new year as an excuse to do that but this year I have felt motivated to make some changes that I didn’t expect I was going to. More excitingly, most of the motivation has come from fellow bloggers!

Fitness:

The first change I made (and the one I expect most people have made in January) is my fitness routine. Last year I had to give up dance class because of university commitments, but that also meant cutting out my regular exercise routine. I love exercise but at the moment I can’t afford/fit in long gym sessions four times a week like I used to. However, I have come up with a solution!

Looking Back on 2012

Well, 2012 has been an amazing year and I thought there was no better way to end it by looking back at some of the highlights!

My first highlight of 2012 was setting up my blog! My boyfriend kept suggesting that I set one up for a while but I didn’t really understand what a blog was. Thanks to his help though, my blog has really lifted off and I am closing 2012 with over 20,000 views and exactly 250 followers! I have thoroughly enjoyed setting up my blog this year an, even though I am still ironing out some of the creases, I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for it.