The Blog-tember Challenge: Day 2 | Goals

Goals

Friday, Sept. 2: Share a list of your current goals.

Hey, lovelies and happy Friday to you all! I'm working today, but following my departure from work this evening, I actually have 6 days off and lots of plans!

It's now day 2 of the blog-tember challenge and I'm still going strong. This year I've decided to plan in advance for these posts because one thing I struggle with is finding the time to write, especially on my days in work. I'll be scheduling all of my posts in the hope of successfully completing the challenge without missing a day. 

I haven't actually compiled a list of my goals for a little while now so I'm quite excited to get everything down on this page. 

Monthly goals:

1. Read 4 books. I've always been a big lover of reading, I just often struggle to find the time to finish a book, but I've been doing a lot better lately. I'd ideally like to read more than 4 books a month, but let's start off light eh? 

2. Learn to swim. One of my biggest dreams is to swim with sharks because they are amazing and I just love them. I only have one little problem... I can't swim. Mike and I have been going to our local pool every single week in order to try and beat my fears and reach the ultimate goal of me learning to swim. It's going to take awhile, but we will get there!

3. Save. This is an always goal for me, not because I can't save, but just because life continuously gets in the way. There are so many wonderful things that I want to do, and obviously, they cost money, especially all of those Holidays. It's time to sort out Christmas, save for Japan, and all of the other wonderful adventures we plan to go on.

4. WRITE! Writing is one of my biggest passions, but sometimes life gets in the way. I come here as much as I can to talk to you and tell you all about my life. Another thing I'm trying to get finished at the moment is my own book, it's taking some time and I'm constantly distracted, but I will finish and will publish.

5. Enjoy working. I need to take the time to find a job that I could fall in love with. That's certainly something it's going to take, time. All I need to remember is that I have a job for now that will help me pay for the things I need, but there's a bigger end goal in sight. 

6. Do more things that make me happy. I love a lot of things, reading, writing, gaming, creating videos, and the list goes on. It's very easy to let life get in the way of the things you really want to do, and it happens to the best of us. I need to start using my time off work more productively.

7. Go to ALL of my hospital appointments. I hate the hospital, I absolutely despise it, and I've spent so long avoiding getting things checked out. All I seem to do at the moment is visit the hospital, and I have so many more appointments lined up. I'll make sure I attend them all, as much as I don't want to because my health is at stake, and nothing is more important than your health.

8. See my loved ones more. It can be hard to spend time with those you love when you don't leave too close to one another and when you have completely different schedules. I'm going to stop making excuses and just start making plans more frequently, no matter how busy life gets.

9. Visit Rome. It's booked, it's finally booked! It's now less than a month until we will be walking around the beautiful streets of Rome, and I'm unbearably excited. This trip is something I've waited so long to do, and along with this trip will come many things ticked off my bucket list.

10. Be happy. Happiness is the ultimate goal in life, it's all I strive for. I must admit that my life is pretty perfect right now, but things have a habit of changing. 

Some more goals...

• Get a new tattoo
• Exercise more
• Play more games
• Be decisive
• Stop procrastinating 
• Spend Christmas just us two, no matter how stressful
• Get Christmas shopping finished before November
• Do more of the DIY projects I constantly say I want to do
• Do more book/film/game reviews
• Buy a new sofa
• Cook more

What are your current goals?

Time is precious

If I were to received a pound for every time I logged on here and began writing a post, only to delete everything I've wrote and close it, I would be UNBEARABLY rich. I absolutely adore blogging, it's one of my favourite things to do, but sometimes I wonder whether I actually have enough to talk about to continue to keep my blog alive, to continue to keep it interesting enough for people to come here and read. I just worry that I don't have the imagination to create wonderfully interesting reads. 

I'm finding that most of the time I'm struggling to find the time to come here and talk to you, my life has been taken over by work, and when I'm not working I'm most likely reading, or catching up on TV shows. I just never seem to have enough time to do all the things that I so desperately want and need to do in my life. 

The last year of my life and more so the last few months I've found myself falling into that horrible pattern that nobody wants to fall into. I wake up, I go to work, where I'm barely even treated like a human being with feelings, I then get home with barely enough time to eat, and then head off to bed. When I get home I'm lucky if I get to have some form of interaction with my other half, which is completely insane considering that we live together! I swear I don't see why I'm paying for a mortgage, I'm out of the house more than I'm in it. 

Hell is repetition, and my life is repetition. 

There's so much I use to want to do with my life, still so much that I want to do. I miss the times where I had the spare money and spare time to not work in a horrible stuffy office, instead I would get to run around with my camera and be crazy creative. 

When I was in University I would have gave anything for it to be over, for me to finally enter the real world with my degree and find a wonderful job that I could fall in love with. Little did I know the real world was never how I pictured it, how people told me it was going to be. No one ever told me it was going to be this hard, no one told me that no one would care about all I've put myself through in order to try and be the best version of me. I always thought that once completing University I would actually be able to fall into the career of my dreams. 

Work, bills, work, bills. MY ENTIRE LIFE. 

My partner and I have booked a trip to Rome very shortly, and I'm more excited about this than I have been about anything in such a long time. I can't wait to spend an entire 5 days in awe staring at the beautiful historical structures that will be standing before me, to be running around with my camera and not having a care in the world. I will completely be in my element, having my camera in my hand and my soul mate by my side. I've literally left myself completely broke in order to book this trip because it was the only way as I have less money now than I have ever had. That's completely hilarious considering this is my first 'real' job, my first real job and I have no money. 

I love certain aspects of my life, I really do. Actually, I love every small detail about my life, aside from the pathetic excuse of a job I currently have. I'm not saying this is an awful job, I'm not saying that people can't enjoy it because it really isn't the worst thing in the world. Honestly, it's just the kind of thing I always said I would never do, it's not the kind of thing that I've worked my entire life  I have a naturally creative mind and not one thing about this job fits my personality. I actually feel like my talents are going to waste, and I'm stuck here now, I don't know what the hell to do to get out, to get out there and do what I was destined to do, be the person I'm truly meant to be. 

In ways my life is a lot more than I thought it would be at this point, I have a wonderful partner, family, and even extended family. I am surrounded by the most wonderful people, people that I find inspirational and just love more than words can express, especially my wonderful better half. I just wish I wasn't stuck in a job I can't stand, I wish it was easy to escape into something that will fill my days with happiness. 

My hun and I 

What I'm Wishing For

I absolutely love browsing the internet, stumbling upon little treasures that would look much better in my possession. I don't need to sit here and waffle on when I can just show you everything I'm hoping for!

I've just moved into my beautiful house with my gorgeous partner and one thing that we're missing is cute little prints and just house decor in general...here's a few things I've been hoping for lately.

I've never been one for wanting or wearing much jewellery, but lately I've found myself to be in love with a couple of Valentines pieces from Pandora, aren't they just to die for?

As a massive camera geek, probably the biggest you'll ever meet, I'm currently eyeing up a new camera, not just any camera, a go pro. I completely object to travelling to the beautiful city of Rome without one of these beautiful pieces of technology. 

There are so very many TV shows that I'm currently in the middle of watching, so many I need to catch up on.

And then there's a couple of books too...

I think that's about everything on my current wish list, not too much, haha! I'd love to hear what you're currently wishing for at the moment, share in the comments lovelies! 

Chapter Two: February

Chapter Two: February

Hello there beautiful February, it's nice to see you. Can you believe that we're in February already? January has completely flew by!

I have to admit that after a very stressful beginning to January, but lovely end, I am quite happy to see February, I'm looking forward to seeing what delightfulness it brings my way. 

January Goals

1. Prepare for the big move. I'm all moved in! Preparation for this took FOREVER, but I got it done, I got everything moved, and i got the house sorted. I'm so relieved.  

2. Enjoy working. Nope, nope, and nope.

3. Celebrate my Birthday in style. I've had the most perfect Birthday ever this year, I have been completely spoilt. 

4. Read 2 books. Check, and check! The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, and Girl online. 

5. Watch at least 25 films. We have watched way too many TV shows to even nearly complete this challenge. This month we managed to watch The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Revenant, Acacia, From The Shadows, The 5th Wave, and Poltergeist. We're now going to have to try harder to watch more in February, but we did watch The Walking Dead season 5, Supernatural seasons 9, and 10, OZ season 6, American Horror Story season 4, Pretty Little Liars, season 6.

February Goals

1. Clear my overdraft. I've been stuck in a student overdraft for the past 4 years, and it's just to painful to think about. I'm nearly halfway to clearing it now though, and I'm hoping to get that done this month.

2. Shopping freeze. I need to begin to save, save, and save! There are so many things that I want to do, so many beautiful places I want to visit, and I really need to start saving so that we can live a wonderful life.

3. Read 2 books. I'm hoping to read at least 24 books this year, that's two a month, although I would love to surprise myself by completely annihilating that goal. 

4. Watch 25 films. I love movies, but I want to make sure I watch as many as humanly possible, so this year I'm aiming to watch AT LEAST 300 films, hopefully a lot more. 

5.  Enjoy working. Find a job that I truly enjoy. I know now more than most that I'm really not going to be able to work to my truest potential in a career that I just don't enjoy, I need to find a reason to look forward to getting up for work in the morning.

6. Be happy.

What have you got planned for February? 

Currently in January 2016...

…reading  The newest book by Stephen King called 'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. It's a series of short stories, naturally some of the stories are better than others but the book is absolutely fantastic, Bravo. I love short stories, I think it's wonderful to see how a writer can make even the shortest story seem like the longest, seem like you've been reading it for a lifetime, and how they can ensure that so much happens in that story. Following the end of this book I'll be starting on Time Lord Fairytales, a book published by Penguin and I'm just ecstatic to read this book, seriously.

…watching  So my partner and I have been watching Babylon 5 for awhile now, we're on the 5th season though. I'm really enjoying it as a series, it's everything that I've always been interested in, I think it's just taking us awhile because I feel like I have to be in the mood to watch it. We've just finished watching the 4th season of American Horror Story, Freak Show, which was a slight disappointment. Don't get me wrong when I say that, I mean it was still okay, it's just probably one of the more weaker seasons unfortunately, Asylum is my favourite. We've also just started the 5th Season of The Walking Dead, which has started off pretty good, we're not too far into it though so I can't really comment on it yet haha! I've ALSO just started rewatching One Tree Hill, mainly because I received the whole collection as a Christmas gift from my mother, and after all, it is one of my FAVOURITE TV shows. 

…trying To move home, which it proving to be an incredibly time consuming task, but it doesn't take away from my excitement. I honestly cannot wait to be completely settled in my new home with my gorgeous partner, at the moment it's just a lot of work, but it will all be worth it when it's done. I'm also trying to find a new job because my contract ends soon, I'm hoping to find a job that has nothing to do with what I'm doing now because to be honest I despise it with my every being. I want to find a reason to enjoy getting up in the morning, I will get there, it might take awhile, but I'll get there. 

…eating Much healthier than Christmas time haha! I say that but we've been trying to rid ourselves of the masses amount of chocolate that we've received over the Christmas period. I mean, we could have threw it all out or donated it or something, but no, we've chosen to mass eat all of the chocolate in the house. Aside from this though, healthier eating is what we are doing. 

…pinning  Nothing actually, I've only just found the time to start up blogging again, I haven't quite got around to finding the time to pin yet, but I will.

…tweeting Mainly about my blog. I've been trying to connect with more bloggers this year, I think it would be great. I'm also tweeting just general life tweets, hating my job, being tired, the usual haha.

…going To be productive today by sorting out my old house a little more, and sorting things out in my new house, there's absolutely so much to do, I don't get how people can enjoy moving home. 

…loving My partner. He's just wonderful, everything about him. It's sometimes hard to show people how much you love them, but I think he knows, I think it would be hard for him to miss. 

…discovering That I don't have to stress about everything. That life will be funner if I just take it as it comes rather than planning every single aspect of it, rather than worrying about EVERYTHING. 

…enjoying  Trying new things and becoming a better person. I've been a fussy eater for my ENTIRE life, but I'm trying to change that, I'm trying a lot of new things at the moment, hoping to break away from the fussiness. 

...thinking About what my life will be like a month from now. In a months time I may not have a job, or I may have a new job, it could be one I love, and it could be one i hate. I'll be living with my partner completely, and I'm excited to see what that's like. 

…feeling  Loved. This last year I have honestly felt so lucky to have the people in my life that I do. 

…hoping That the whole 'moving house' thing goes smoothly. I don't want to hit any obstacles on the way and if I do I hope they are easy to overcome. 

...listening To Rihanna. I haven't listened to her in a long time, which is a surprise because she's most certainly one of my favourite artists. 

…thanking  My Partner. It could honestly take me forever to sit here and thank him for everything about him that I'm grateful for, but he knows, or I hope he knows, how much i appreciate everything he does for me. 

…starting To be happy with my life. Everything it beginning to fall into place and I love it, I've been so happy lately. 

What are you currently doing?

2016...the year that i become fearless

Fearless

How often is it that you find yourself frozen by fear? You're unable to move, your heart racing, and your palms sweating, you know the feeling, because you've been afraid.   

"And I don't know how it gets better than this, you take my hand and drag me headfirst fearless. And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress fearless."

What does it truly mean to be fearless?

I find it prodigious how many different meanings one single word can have, how you define one word may not be the way that I define is.

Here's how google defines the word fearless.

fearless

ˈfɪəlɪs/

adjective

1. showing a lack of fear.

   "a fearless crusader for animal rights"

   synonyms:

   bold, brave, courageous, intrepid, valiant, valorous, gallant, plucky,lionhearted, stout-hearted, heroic, daring, dynamic, spirited, mettlesome,confident, audacious, indomitable, doughty;  unafraid, undaunted,unflinching, unshrinking, unblenching, unabashed;  informalgame, gutsy,spunky, ballsy, go-ahead, have-a-go, feisty;  rareventurous "the most fearless man I've ever seen in battle"

Everyone experiences fear in their life and it's not something you can escape, it's part of what makes you human. 

I want to become fearless, I want to allow myself to not run away the second I'm afraid, I want to be brave enough to try new things, meet new people, visit new places, and just be happy in myself. 

I believe that being fearless doesn't mean that you're not afraid anymore, it's more that you're taking those steps to try and overcome it, you're pushing yourself through the fear.

For as long as I can remember I have been afraid of life, afraid of the consequences of every single one of my actions, afraid of saying the wrong thing and hurting peoples feelings. It's hard to enjoy life when you're over analysing every single aspect of your life to the point that you can't really enjoy things because you're too afraid of something going wrong, too afraid of messing something up. 

"It takes courage to overcome fear and bravery to banish it."

I want to be able to stop running away from the things that I fear the most, I wan't to be able to live a truly fearless lifestyle. 

What are you afraid of? Are you trying to overcome these fears? 

Making January happen

January Goals

Hey again, it's me! Yes, I'm back again, how amazing is that? I hope you've all had a fantastic start to January so far. I've spent the last couple of days hanging with dear friends and preparing to move home, it's been quite marvellous, until I fell ill last night anyway, but I'm sure I can power through that as always.

I've already shared a good few posts with you this year and we're only on day 4, and I know I shared my overall goals for this year with you, but continuing with last years tradition, sharing monthly goals.

Monthly Goals: 

1. Prepare for the big move. At the end of this month I'm actually moving in with my partner ( I'm saying that as if I haven't mentioned it before haha!) and I have ALOT to do, including packing, tidying and just a lot of stuff. I'm going to write a check list of things that I need to do for this, I imagine the list will me longer that I am tall. 

2. Enjoy working. Find a job that I truly enjoy. I know now more than most that I'm really not going to be able to work to my truest potential in a career that I just don't enjoy, I need to find a reason to look forward to getting up for work in the morning.

3. Celebrate my Birthday in style. I'm incredibly excited for my Birthday this year, I have so many great friends that I'll hopefully spend a little bit of time with over this period. I'm especially looking forward to spending the actual day of my birth with my love. 

4. Attend Thomas' 2nd Birthday Party. My partners nephew turns 2 towards the beginning of next month and will be having a party towards the end of this month, children's parties are the best kinds of parties...cake. Yay! 

5. Read 2 books. I'm hoping to read at least 24 books this year, that's two a month, although I would love to surprise myself by completely annihilating that goal. 

6. Watch at least 25 films. I love movies, but I want to make sure I watch as many as humanly possible, so this year I'm aiming to watch AT LEAST 300 films, hopefully a lot more. 

I'm starting off a little lighter with my goals this month, especially considering how many goals I've already set myself this year. Following the end of this month I will post a recap of January, which will include my progression with the above goals and my goal setting for the month of February. 

I now need to go and sit in a dark room for awhile in the hope that this migraine disappears. 

Shopping is the greatest kind of therapy

So after spending yesterday packing, tidying, and basically causing myself physical damage, I decided to take myself on a little shopping trip with one of my loveliest friends. 

After a spot of dinner that cost way to much for me to even talk about, I decided to treat myself to a few little things...

Of course one thing you absolutely have to do when you're in Liverpool is take yourself on a little trip to Lush, which I absolutely adore, I love the overwhelming amount of scents that hit you as soon as you walk through the door. Today I found myself purchasing the Christmas Edition Shower Gel, Snow Fairy, which smells absolutely divine, and was on offer at HALF PRICE!  Apparently this shower gel is candy floss scented, but if you ask me it smells an awful lot like bananas...Mmmm. I also purchased a little robot bath bomb, mainly because it was a robot. haha. 

It's the start of 2016 and one thing I find myself doing at the beginning of EVERY year is buying myself loads of pads, journals, diaries, etc. I like to be organised at the beginning of the new year, I like to give myself the best possible chance of continuing this throughout the year, and what better way? So this is a new little book that I purchased today from Paperchase, and I think it's just the cutest. 

I love Doctor Who, period. I saw this and I just absolutely had to throw myself at that till and make that purchase. I can't wait to read this, it looks amazing...how exciting! 

I must have spent around £30 on all of this, but I'm thrilled with my little purchases. I managed to show an incredible amount of self control which I'm impressed with, I could have bought so much today.

Anyway, the world awaits...

The journey starts here!

HAPPY JANUARY 2ND 

Aloha friends! Just a quick post to let you know what I've been getting up to and to find out how 2016 is going for you? We're now two days into the year and I'm already feeling slightly stressed! haha. I guess stress is one of the more normal feelings that one has to deal with when moving house, but I am incredibly excited! 

So late in 2015 my partner and I decided that it was time to move in together, decided the best way to start off a new year and an amazing life together is to live together. 

Today I found myself in my 'current' house surrounded by boxes, boxes, and you guessed it...more boxes. All I've found whilst packing is that I'm actually making the house a lot messier than it originally was, a lot messier than I intended for it to be, but that's okay. 

I'm always, always excited as to what the future holds for me, but as of lately I have found myself more excited than ever, I've found out what it's like to be truly happy with life without even trying, and I'm loving it!

I'm hoping to find myself blogging more frequently now that some of the past stresses in my life have disappeared (yes, I am talking about towering piles of assignments). It's a new year and I'm leaving all of the the stress, hatred, and upset from the year before in the past, it really is a brand new start for me.

I hope this year turns out to be magical for each and ever one of us.

Until next time...

(Has no relation to -A from Pretty Little Liars)

New Year: Chapter One

Something about a brand new year just fills me with an overwhelming amount of excitement, ahh, I can smell the opportunities in the air. It fills me with complete joy to know that so much may happen this year, so much will happen this year, and I literally have no idea what the world has in store for me. 

The one thing i struggle with every year is setting my goals for the new year, mainly because they actually mean something to me,. I want each of my goals to be something I truly want to accomplish. 

So before I throw my goals of 2016 out there for all to see, I would just like to wish every one of you a Happy New Year, I hope you managed to bring in the New Year in the most magical way possible, I know that I sure did.

A new year can mean only one thing; new beginnings. This is the year, this is my year! This is the year I make things happen, make my wildest dreams come true, and I wish everyone the greatest of luck with whatever they have planned for the year ahead. 

I love the beginning of a new year, it's a whole 365 blank pages in the book of our life, a whole 365 pages that we can do anything with.

So without further ado, let's welcome in January! I hope that January is truly kind to you all, and you are to it. We're only going to get one January 2016, let's make it amazing! 

2016 Goals

1. Be fearless. Be in control of my own life. Make decisions without being afraid of the consequences. Stop imagining who I want to be and just become that person. Believe in me, if I can't do this then how can I expect someone else to? Stop being afraid of life. 

2. Stay motivated. Surround myself with people who inspire me and rid myself of those who don't. 

3. Do more things that make me happy. Find a reason to be happy. Live life how I want to, it's the only life I'm going to get, there's no point being unhappy. Travel. Meet new people. Explore. Find new passions. 

4. Cross something off my bucket list. NO EXCUSES!

5. Blog more. I'll be thankful of it when time has passed by, I'll be able to reread the experiences I have documented. 

6. Commit to kindness. Being good to people will be more rewarding than most other things in this world. Making other people happy will make me happy. Don't judge. 

7. Change something about my life that matters. Although I don't know what this is just yet, I'm sure I will know when the time is right. 

8. Take one picture everyday. The world is beautiful and wonderful things happen every day. It's time to make sure I remember them. 

9. Write a book. This is something I have been meaning to do for the longest time and this is the year I will make it happen. 

10. Dream it. Wish it. Do it. 

Other Things to do during 2016 

Move in with my gorgeous partner. 

Be more of a positive person.Be happy.Learn to love me.

Travel. Photograph EVERYTHING.

                                                                       Read many books.                                                                                           

I really hope that January is kind to you all, I hope many new doors open for you as every old door closes.

All the best!