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Thursday, 7 January 2021

New Years Tag | Hello 2021

Hi lovelies! I hope the start of the year has been good for you all  (if not, sending you virtual hugs!). During the lead up to January, I was trying to think of a New Years themed post, because well, it's just the obligatory thing to post on a blog. However, I'm not a huge fan of goals or resolutions posts, at least for myself, anymore. I just find that they make me put a huge amount of pressure on myself to complete the tasks and then give my readers updates, and when it comes to my own mental health, it is not a great idea... so yeah, I searched my brain for something different I could share with you all. And I eventually thought why not create a tag? That way, those of you who feel the same as I do when it comes to sharing your goals for the year on the internet (or even making concentre goals at all) would still be able to chat about the start of a new year on your blog! I hope you guys enjoy reading my answers and please feel free to do the tag, but be sure to tag me so I can check your post :) Happy New Year Everyone!! 

Tags always include rules, right? So, here's mine: 

1) Copy the questions to your blog,

2) Link back to my original post, and also thank the person who tagged you (linking theirs, too),

3) Answer the questions, 

4) Add your own question (if you want to), 

5) Tag 4-6 friends to answer it,

6) Give yourself a pat on the back. You blogged!! You're awesome! 

A photo showing a little ornament of a maneki neko or lucky cat. It is sitting on silver tinsel.

And here are my answers. Enjoy! 

1) Let's start by looking back at 2020. What were three good things that happened to you?

If you follow me over on instagram, then you'll more than likely know that last year, my sister & I welcomed our niece into our home. She cannot live with her parents, for reasons that I would never disclose on the internet, so she's living with us permanently; although, technically with my sister, but we live together at the moment so yeah, we have a very curious and energetic two year old in our lives now! She's honestly brought so much joy back into our home, which hadn't felt the same ever since our mom passed away. Now, the house is filled with laughter and constant adorableness. So of course, Fifi is the best thing that happened for me in 2020 :)  

Also, throughout the year, my amazing friends seriously spoilt me with all of the gifts and letters and packages they sent to me!! It was so very kind of them and I am ever so grateful! I feel very loved :') And good thing no.3 has to be Animal Crossing coming into my life at Christmas Time!! Eeee! I'm already obsessed, and it was even a struggle to pry myself off the game this evening to write this post, haha! 

2) What was a positive to come out of spending all that time at home?

To be honest, living the chronic illness life means that I spend the majority of my existence at home anyway. Alongside that, I've always been a hermit who prefers my own company, tucked away indoors with a good book or show/movie to get lost in. So, 2020 wasn't a massive change for me when it came to lockdown. The only struggles I've had is not being able to see my best friends (and the challenge of trying to get a grocery delivery slot, and in the end being forced to venture to the supermarket, even though I have asthma and a crappy immune system... ugh). 

Negativity aside, something that happened due to being at home and seeing so many people decorating whilst browsing online is that it gave me the kick up the butt that I needed to finally decorate my own room! I'd been delaying it for years because of life problems, so it feels awesome to have my new furniture assembled, wallpaper up and I'm a few steps away from finishing converting the built-in cupboard into my wardrobe! Hooray!! 

3) Did you start any new hobbies in 2020? Discover any new interests?

My answer to this question is a boring one, because I didn't begin any new hobbies! I already have too many hobbies and interests than I can handle as it is XD I fixate on one of them for a while, and then end up moving onto something else, but I will continue to partake in them all. I guess, I did end up colouring a lot more than usual, and that's mostly down to the fact that my friends bought me so many lovely colouring books from my amazon wishlist. Love you guys! 

A photo showing a plushie of a traditional japanese new year mascot. it is red and yellow, and is sitting on silver tinsel.

4) What was your best watch and/or read of 2020?

The best read for me was The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende. I absolutely adored it! It was really enthralling and a wonderful journey to go on with the characters :) I haven't seen the movie since I was too young to remember, so it was a lovely surprise! I've been putting off re-watching the movie until I read the book, so I need to do that soon. It's actually one of my best reads ever! 

As for movies, that's a tough one. I watched 56 movies in 2020 (I keep a list... nerdy, I know!), and there were many that I enjoyed a lot. I finally watched Wreck It Ralph (2012) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) with my sister for her birthday back in April, and they were epic!! I regret not watching them sooner! The sequel was my favourite of the two. How about you? I also wanted a movie called Hippotamus (2017) that had a very interesting storyline.  Oh, The Nightingale (2018) was another good watch, and Netflix's Enola Holmes (2020). When it comes to TV shows, The Witcher was the highlight of my year. I watched it three times, and bought all of the books to read this year! It's amazing!! I also watched the adaptation of His Dark Materials and loved that (I've purchased the books now, too). Netflix's Cursed was awesome, as well. I've heard that it's been cancelled... I hope not! I finally watched the two part adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time from 2004, and it was fantastic! I need to add the book to my TBR list... 

5) Name five things or people that helped get you through the gloomy times?

- Music (and doing a lot of theatrical singalongs... my poor neighbours :D),

- YouTube (I watched way more YT than shows or movies in 2020. I practically live on YT!),

- Nature (my garden has always been my happy place, but even more so this year!),

- The internet!

- Writing (it's been a big help to focus my thoughts on a fantasy realm VS real life, haha),

And when it comes to people, my sister and my niece has been a massive help! As well as one of my closest online friends, Stina, who has become a best friend of mine through 2020; we have grown so close through talking almost everyday, and I don't know what I'd have done without her :) All of my online, and fellow blogger, friends had a huge impact on my life last year and I cannot thank them enough! I have the most fabulous friends!! 

6) Okay, phew! We can forget last year now!! Share something you want to achieve this year.

I want to read more. I said that at the beginning of 2020, yet for some reason, I just couldn't do it. My mental health wasn't great because of all that was going on in the world, and then I was super busy preparing for the arrival of my niece and then adjusting to all of the changes to my life. So yeah, I need to read all of the books that I kept on buying last year and not reading... oops. I also want to, of course, complete my room decorating, and I want give more attention to writing my novel. 

7) Tell us three things you're looking forward to.

I am always looking forward to the joys that nature will bring into my life every year, the changing of the seasons and what delights will come with them. All of the wildlife encounters I might have, and the shots that I may manage to get on my camera. It's so exciting to me because I'm a massive nature geek :D

That, and Animal Crossing!! Getting a switch of my own (because right now, I'm playing on my sisters) and all of the games I'll be able to play. It has been a while since I've been able to game, and I cannot wait to play more!! 

8) Other than our current global situation, what's one thing in your life that you'd like to change in 2021? 

Umm, the only aspects of my life that I would like to improve upon this year that I can think of right now, are my German language skills and my confidence. I have been learning German for a while now, and I haven't got as far as I would have liked to, thus I need to up my game and practice every single day! And even though I have come a long lonnnnnng way with my self-love, there's still a lot that I need to work on :) Maybe 2021 will be my year!

A photo of a maneki neko or japanese/chinese lucky cat ornament, sitting on silver tinsel.

The Questions:

1. Let's start by looking back at 2020. What were three good things that happened to you?

2. What was a positive to come out of spending all that time at home? 

3. Did you start any new hobbies in 2020? Discover any new interests? 

4. What was your best watch and/or read of 2020?

5. Name five things or people that helped get you through the gloomy times?

6. Okay, phew! We can forget last year now!! Share something you want to achieve this year.

7. Tell us three things you're looking forward to.

8. Other than our current global situation, what's one thing in your life that you'd like to change in 2021? 

I tag: 

Jess from Little Piink Duck

Natalee from There Might Be Coffee

Estelle from Estellosaurus 

Kim from Chimmyville

Cate from Cateaclysmic

and Eleanor from MxrshmallowQueen 

Well, it was quite cathartic to look back on 2020 in a positive light :D I hope reading my post helped you guys feel better about that shitshow! And that it's gotten you feeling at least a little optimistic about the next twelve months :) Here's to a year full of fun moments, lots of happy mail, yummy food, good movies and vaccinations! Yay!! 


Thankyou for reading! 

One final question for today, what new releases are you excited for in 2021? 

movies, games, shows, products... whatever it is, tell me :)


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Friday, 1 January 2016

2016 Goals


Happy New Year Everyone! May 2016 be filled with happiness & awesomeness for you! I hope you do everything you want to & have a fantastic time doing it! 
  
I always have a difficult time sticking to any of the New Years goals I set myself; I'll start off really well at the beginning of the year and just sort of forget about them for the rest of the year. Not this year! I'm determined to try really hard to stay focused on these goals and I've decided to finally do something that I've wanted to do for a few years now, which is make a scrapbook to look back on everything I've done at the end of the year. I think adding to the scrapbook throughout the year will keep me motivated and remind me of the progress I'm making :) 

My goals for 2016 

(1) Eat more healthily; I'm going to try and change my eating habits to see if it will have a positive effect on my mental & physical health. 
(2) Travel more around the UK; I want to visit some of the beautiful places that this country has to offer. Through postcrossing, I've talked to lots of people across the World who have actually visited more places in the UK than I have so I think it's about time I explored for myself. 

(3) Try more foods; I'm a very fussy eater and I often get bored of eating the same old meals all the time so I'd like to try and find new recipes using my favourite foods. In December, I tried a new fruit called a Pomelo and it made me think about all the fruit and vegetables out there that I've never eaten so I'm on a mission this year to try some. 

(4) Create a memory jar; I keep reading about these online and I'd love to have make one of my own. I think they are a great idea :) 

(5) Get more tattoos; at the moment I only have one tattoo and I have SO MANY ideas for what I want next so I need to get them. I keep putting it off because I'm not a fan of needles, in fact when it's clinical needles I am terrified, so I hate getting the tattoo done but once it's over, I'm so happy. I think tattoos are gorgeous. 

(6)  Go on holiday with a friend; this would be awesome and I really hope I can do this! 

(7) Improve my confidence; I want to try really hard this year not to let my social anxiety win and keep holding me back. 

(8) Dye my hair a bright colour; this is been a goal of mine for ages and I've been waiting for all of the black to grow out of my hair after years of dying it... my hair is very long so it has taken forever! I can't wait to have blue or green or purple hair.

(9) Get better at make-up & sort out a skincare routine; I have so much to learn and so many things to try. I'm excited. Reading everyone's posts on skincare has been constantly reminding me that I need to do this!

(10) Get involved more & help people; I want to do my bit to help others so this year I'm going to try to do something for charity, help out someone in need. I'd also love to get more involved with feminist causes and campaigns. 


(11) Go to more gigs; I've already bought tickets for Bowling For Soup & Busted! Yayy!

(12) Learn to bake more things; I love baking & I want to try out some new cake recipes and learn how make some desserts. 

(13) Join in with twitter chats; I'm very new to twitter and I'm still figuring out how to do things & learning about all the different twitter chats. It will be challenge for me because of my anxiety but I'd love to get involved and meet some lovely new people and get to know some of the bloggers behind the blogs I love to read.

(14) Complete my journals/art books; in 2015 I started my Wreck This Journal & my Anti Journal and as usual, I've completed lots of the pages but have never finished the books so I need to get them done!

(15) Get through my 'To Watch List'; I have a mass of sticky notes on my laptop desktop with lists of movies that I wanted to watch over the last year and due to all the challenges and tough times I faced in 2015 I didn't watch them all. I want to get this goal completed soon so I can make a new list for this year. 

(16) Start using my planner; I got a gorgeous domino filofax for my birthday and I can't wait to fill it. I admire of all the beautiful planner set-ups I've seen on instagram and pinterest so much and I'm looking forward to putting my own together. 

(17) Do more DIY projects; I want to get crafty this year and see if I can find myself another hobby. 

(18) Start writing again; When I was younger, I used to love writing. I'd write short stories all the time and read them to my best friend. Over the years, I got so preoccupied with life that I stopped and I want to give it another go. 

(19) Make an art journal; I've seen such beautiful journals that people make to help with their mental health and I really want to see if it will help me too :) 

(20) & Lastly, I want to be more open about my anxiety & depression; Starting my blog and being able to talk more openly about my personal experience of mental health has been really helpful for me and the thought that my posts could help someone else makes me happy. It's a scary thought but I want to try and be more open about it with the people around me, my friends and family and on my social media. 

Thankyou for reading!

 

 What are your goals/resolutions for 2016?


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