Winter bucket list

Is it too soon to start thinking about Winter? The clocks have changed, the nights are getting darker and it's definitely getting colder. Despite all this Winter still remains one of my favourite seasons, there is a few things I want to achieve this Winter to get the most out of the season!

 



 

1. Visit a Christmas Market

 

My hometown has a Christmas Market every year and I really do enjoy the experience to get into the Christmas spirit, it's a great place to pick up some little handmade items that make very unique and special gifts for loved ones

 

2. Build a snowman

 

As a kid two of my favourite things about Winter was sledging and building snowmen, I'd love to be able to get back into that feeling of being a kid again and just messing around building a snowman (maybe not the sledging as I do feel I am slightly too old for that now, plus have no idea where my sledge actually is at this point)

 

3. Have a hot chocolate with Marshmallows in

 

I am now a regular at the Saturday football matches where I watch my boyfriend play most weekends, one of the best ways to warm up after being stood outside in the cold (or rain in one particular case I remember very well) is with a nice warm mug of hot chocolate, as a special Christmas treat though I'd love to try one with marshmallows on the top and maybe some squirty cream too

 

4. Watch the Christmas lights switch on

 

Again this is something I went to last year which I found a great experience I really enjoyed watching the lights switch on as it felt like to start of Christmas, this is something I would love to do again this year.

 

5. Bake Christmas cookies

 

Not only Christmas cookies but I'd also like to have a go at making a gingerbread house, there's no way anything I bake will come out like the photos I've seen circulating social media but I feel it is worth a shot at anyway!

 

 

Finally, the isn't something I think I am going to be able to do this year but one year I would love to go to Winter Wonderland in London, I've heard so many great things about it and it's an experience I'd love to try!

J x

 



Whirlwinds and Wanderlust

So these last few days have been amazing as I have been celebrating my 19th Birthday! The adventures started on Friday when me and my family and boyfriend went to see Shappi Khorsandi. This is a comedian who I had enjoyed watching on Live at the Apollo and would like to see live. I could definitely recommend seeing Shappi live if you are a fan. The show was predominantly about culture but with a very meaningful message of patriarchy behind the humour. Shappi also had a support act who I can say was practically as equally funny as Shappi herself and I would recommend looking at Tom Lucy's work if you haven't before.

Me and Alan at the LPAC waiting for Shappi

On the Sunday we had been searching all day for anybody selling tickets to Russell Howard at our local venue as we had wanted to go since the tickets were released but the tour had sold out within minutes. Last minute somebody messaged us asking if we were still looking for tickets as they couldn't make it, amazingly they were willing to give the tickets away for free despite us offering them money for them so we both felt extremely lucky to be able to have that experience.

Me and Alan outside The Engine Shed to see Russell Howard

 

 

On Tuesday I finished work at lunchtime as we was going to a Jaime Lawson concert in the evening after my parents got me tickets for my birthday. Alan had booked the whole day off working and came to surprise me by picking me up from work at lunchtime with a McDonald's and surprising me with a cinema trip to see The Girl On The Train. This is a film that I had wanted to see prior to it's release as I had enjoyed the book so much! I felt the film was definitely worth a watch although it could get a bit weird in places.

 

 

 

 

 

Then came the actual day of my birthday! I had booked the day of work as who wants to be working on their own birthday? I hadn't had anything planned and was thinking of having a lazy day with Alan but was surprised to find that he had organised a bowling trip for us and my parents and that night I also went to Damon's for a meal where I had a lovely cheeseburger! I really enjoyed the two games of bowling we had and the Mississippi Melt burger from Damon's, I also tried one of the Damon's Special's cocktails which was really nice and made a change as I am not usually a fan of alcoholic drinks!



 

Overall I had a really lovely day and I can't thank my boyfriend and family enough for making it so special for me!!

 

J x

Weird Fish Giveaway!!

So I am running another fantastic competition with Weird Fish for a gorgeous cross body bag. The idea for the company was first formed in Cheltenham in 1993 through a love of the coast and great outdoors! They formed their first t-shirt after finding an airbrush technique that worked for them and have kept growing as a company ever since!

One of my favourite things about Weird Fish is the authenticity that they give to their products. In particular I find their t-shirts very unique and able to cater for all styles and tastes which is a rare feature in the fashion market today. I'm particularly fond of the graphic styled t-shirts that they do too!

For your chance to win the gorgeous cross body bag below, enter using the Rafflecopter form and make sure you visit their website to find the latest range of their styles!

 

 

Please note that data collected from this competition will be shared with Weird Fish.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 years from now...

It's easy to wonder what you'll be doing 10 years from now, it also might be a common interview question, where we create an answer about building a career because that's what they want to hear. But few of us may rarely stop to thing, where will I be 10 years from now? What do I want to achieve?
The truth is, nobody knows. Nobody can predict what life will be like in 10 years because it changes so rapidly. The upmost important thing is to set goals, make sure you know what you personally want to achieve and how you plan on getting there. Here's a five of my own personal goals on where I hope to be in 10 years.

1. Move into my own home
This ideally is something I want to achieve within the next 5 years with my boyfriend. I'd love for us to get our own place, not anywhere fancy but just to have moved out and taken that responsibility is really important to me.

2. TravelTravel is really important to me as I believe it can really change our mind set by engaging ourselves in new experiences and adventures. I hope to turn this blog into a predominantly travel based blog and I hope that through sheer passion and determination I am able to do that.

3. Start my own business
From an early age I have wanted to start my own event business and have been encouraged by organising several successful charity events previously. Not only do I want to do more of these events and hopefully make it an annual event, I also want to turn my passion for events into a business or at least have a job that I love within the events industry.

4. Grow and invest in my blogThis is something I have been meaning to do for a while and now that exams have finished I hope to be able to do this. I'd love to participate more in blog chats and comment on all of the lovely blog posts I read and I hope that by having more time I will be able to invest more in my blog.

5. Raise £5,000 for charitySince my operation at the age of 12 I have been passionate about raising money for charity. I have set my goal to raise £5,000 through varies events within the next five years. I don't think that this is impossible and think it is a reasonably set goal.

Some people write their goals down and bury them in a box to dig up 10 years later. I'm not going to do that with this but I hope that this blog will still be here so I can see how much things have changed, maybe I'll even have different goals by that point.


J x

Get to know me - 20 Questions

I realise that I haven't properly given readers the chance to really get to know me with an in depth questions post. I realise that this might be the cliché post that most bloggers will do at some point but I'll try to make the answers as interesting as I can and hopefully after you'll understand a little more about me and what this blog is about!


1. What's your philosophy in life?

To enjoy it, life is short and you only get one opportunity to achieve all the things you dream about, if you don't make them happen, nobody else will.

2. What's one thing you would change about yourself?

I'd make myself more confident and a little less awkward.

3. Are you religious or spiritual?

I'd say more spiritual.

4. Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert?

Definitely an introvert

5. Which parent are you closer to and why?

I don't know if I could say I'm particularly closer to one parent, it definitely used to be my dad when I was younger but I'd say its evened out a bit more now.


6. What was the best phase in your life?

I'd say the best phase was either where I am right now and if not that, I believe it is still to come.

7. What was the worst phase of your life?

When I was 12, I spent a lot of time around hospitals and it definitely wasn't the right environment for a 12 year old.

8. Is what you're doing now what you always wanted to do growing up?

Not exactly but it's working out, I'll get there

9. What makes you feel accomplished?

Achieving something I never thought I'd be able to. For example, getting the exam results I did.

10. Looks or brains?An equal amount of both? Too much of one could make the person cocky?

11. How do you feel about sharing your password with your partner?

I don't have a problem with it, my accounts aren't that interesting;)


12. Have you ever lost someone close to you?
Yes definitely

13. Are you confrontational?

Only when there is a need for it.


14. Would you relocate for love?

Of course.


15. What are you most thankful for?

A supportive family, friends and boyfriend.


16. Do you believe in second chances?

Yes, I believe everyone deserves a second chance.


17.  What's on your bucket list this year?

Travel more, that will be on my bucket list every year!


18. What's your idea of a perfect vacation?

Anything that involves adventure!


19. What is your ultimate goal in life?

To be happy.


20. Love or money?

Love, definitely love.

Jess Glynne Concert

I recently went to a concert called Rasen Rocks with my friend Hannah. This is an annual event that happens at the racecourse every year and I have been a couple of years ago when I went to see Mcfly there. 

The event was really good and I really underestimated how good Jess would be live. She has a really strong voice and that really comes across in her performance. 

We managed to get close enough to be in the middle of the action which meant that we could just see the stage but the view was much more visible on the two big screens that were displayed either side of the crowd. I managed to get lots of photos of the event which I have added a few to this post! 

I would definitely recommend seeing Jess Glynne live to anyone that has the opportunity too!

J x

Which gate would you choose?

When I was a child my Dad would make up a bedtime story every night before bed. It would always start by asking me if I wanted to go through the pink gate or the blue gate and the gate that I chose would determine the story. It wasn't until I was much older that I realised that in reality, it wouldn't matter what gate I chose, the story would be the same. This led to me developing a philosophy, that maybe life was a little bit like this too.

We spend so much of our lives working, trying to prepare or earn something that might already be predetermined. We prepare for a job interview when the perfect job might be just around the corner. We wonder why things don't always go to plan but eventually we see that everything falls into place. Everything works out in the end, perhaps not always the way we'd first planned it, but the way it was meant to be.

Last year I worked and revised almost solidly for my AS levels and the results didn't reflect the effort that I had made. This year, although I did revise, I took a more relaxed approach, I made sure that I had time to enjoy myself and that my life wasn't concentrated around a schedule of revision, I even left school a week early to go on holiday and I did a lot better. I re-sat one of my AS levels this year as well as doing my A levels and I went from a U in the exam to an A. Perhaps, last year was a lesson, this year was the reward that happens when you realise that exams are not the end of the world.

I've always been known to overthink and analyse too much but slowly I think I am learning to relax and let life fall into place. At the age of 18 I have 8 GCSE's, 6 A levels, a supportive family, a good job, a fantastic boyfriend and I'm learning to drive. Things that I hoped to achieve but never expected to. If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be that everything will fall into place in the end, things will work out and get better.

Going back to my first point about gate, perhaps it doesn't matter. We worry to much about the choices we make when the outcomes could be the same. Life is about taking a risk, what will be will be.

J x