Monthly Aims: April

Ciao,

Erm I'm sorry where has March gone? I would like it back please. Last thing I knew it was my birthday and now we're about to welcome April... ERRR WHAT! This year is going way too fast, before I know it it's going to be August and I'm still fat...which brings me to last months aims...

1.To exercise at least 5 days a week.

2. To revise French/Italian 3 times a week.

Well safe to say I failed EPICALLY at number one. Completely failed I have not exercised once in the whole of March, unless you count excessive amounts of walking which I have done on two trips to London and at work which has been CRAZY this month. I badly need to get my butt in gear, in more than one sense of the word, I am flying to Turkey in precisely 126 days and I need to lose some weight or I may just melt in the heat. So March Aim number one is a write off, new start tomorrow?

March aim number 2 has gone slightly better but I don't think I can say I've done revision 3 times a week every week but there has been revision. I've been writing vocab lists from French to Italian so that when I look at them there is no English in sight. I have also the past few days been doing Rosetta Stone in Italian and oh man it's going to take me ages to complete. It feels good to go back to basics though and start from the foundations up. 

So one failure and one pretty good attempt. March hasn't been an awful month for me, in fact a lot of good things happened; my 22nd Birthday, trip to Harry Potter Studio Tour, day out in London, Drake concert and best of all my Daddy came home! YAY! 

So now onto the purpose of this post, April Aims.

1. To exercise as much as possible.

2. To continue revision.

3. To be better with my money. 

Here's hoping I can keep to these ones!

Ciao for now...

Beautiful Blazers

Ciao,

Pinterest is an addictive world of craft and all things beautiful. I had heard all about Pinterest but had never bothered with opening an account until a few months ago and just like Alice, I fell into its wonderland. I now have several boards for several different things and have been collecting recipes, craft ideas, home ideas, weight loss tips and everything in between like a magpie with shiny things. One day I found a picture of some floral Nike blazers and loved them so naturally I pinned them. I didn't really think about them again until I was looking through my boards for something. When I saw the picture again I just knew I had to have them and so I googled them. Low and behold they were limited edition and even worse they were no longer being sold anywhere. Bummer. So in a last bid attempt to buy these beautiful trainers (yes I know I just described trainers as beautiful but they are floral and flowers are beautiful) I went and looked on the almighty eBay...

One pair on sale. Just one. Size 5.5, worn once and the bid ended the following day. I knew it was fate. Okay a teensy bit dramatic for a pair of trainers but it was obvious that I was supposed to buy them. The price went up over night but they were still cheaper than their original price so I bid and won them. I was so happy. 

So here they are in all their glory...

Aren't they just the prettiest trainers you've ever seen?

Ciao for now...

My 22nd Birthday

Ciao,

So it's long overdue but I wanted to do a birthday summary of my 22nd birthday. I didn't plan on doing very much for my birthday but it ended up being three days of celebration with my friends and family. On my actual birthday I went to work until three o'clock and then went straight from there to see my Dad at the Hospice with my Mum, brother and sister. We just chilled and I opened my cards and presents and then we had birthday cake which was an awesome GIANT jaffa cake. Yum. After seeing Dad I went and had dinner in Windsor at Pizza Express. Overall a chilled but lovely birthday. 

The following day I got invited over to a close friend's house to have dinner with her and two of my other friends and their partners. We do this every few weeks so I was so shocked when my friends three year old came running in with a card followed by two more cards, a bar of chocolate, a bunch of flowers and then a Topshop voucher as well. Then they surprised me again by coming out with a birthday cake with candles after dinner! They're such superstars and I really appreciated the surprise! I felt well and truly spoiled by their kindness and friendship.

Then finally, two days after my birthday I went out with my best friend to a restaurant called Bill's in Windsor. We had a lovely dinner and she bought me a beautiful bracelet with a daisy on it. All in all I had a lovely and what I feel is very mature three days of birthday celebration. I received some lovely gifts but more than anything I spent time with my amazing family and lovely friends and ended up enjoying my birthday more than I had originally anticipated! 

Sometimes low key is just perfect. :)

Ciao for now...

Spring has sprung!

Ciao,

A few months ago I was looking for a new camera with the intention of taking it on my year abroad. The first place I looked was Argos and lucky that I did as they were having their January sales and had some amazing cameras massively reduced. I ended up buying a Nikon 1 J2 which normally costs £400 but was on sale for £200, I had some Christmas money left over and also my parents and brother were looking for something to get me for my birthday so I ended up getting a very expensive camera for not much money at all.

 I've had the camera since January but hadn't actually used it until last weekend. It was a beautifully sunny day, as it is today, and there is a small tree outside my house which blooms blossom every spring, it is so pretty that I had to take some pictures. I ended up doing a bit of a spring photo-shoot and now am a little bit obsessed with my camera. 

Et voila...

Ciao for now...

Throwback Thursday: Birthday Edition

Ciao,

Today, as it was my birthday this week, I am throwing it back to my sweet 16 which is now 6 years ago! Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it was that long ago! 

From left to right: My best friend Chloe, me and my friend Amy. This photo was taken in my living room on the morning of my 16th birthday (10/03/08) before going to school. Oooo aren't those uniforms SO attractive. Haha. This is back when I was trying very hard to grow my hair and also to have a side fringe which never sat right and which I now realise all 3 of us had...awkward. From all the marks on Chloe's jumper I'm guessing that it rained but I also think that it may have snowed around that time too! 

This posy photo was taken on my birthday outing, me and three friends got a limo into London, had a meal at Pizza Express and then went to watch Dirty Dancing at the theatre. I used to love the top I'm wearing, it was from Jane Norman which was our favourite shop as teenagers and it was a baby pink and black lace corset top which laced all the way up the front. Despite the very sassy posing and pouty face I love looking at this photo I cannot believe that I thought I was fat. Okay I'm not super thin here but in my 16 year old brain I was fat. In hindsight I was perfectly normal and shouldn't have spent any time fretting over my weight. You live and learn eh.

I am now 6 years on from these photos and several stone heavier but I'm also far more mature and I no longer have a dodgy fringe! 

Ciao for now... 

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling twenty-two...

Ciao,

 

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling twenty-two...

 

Today is my 22nd birthday so naturally I had to tweet out Taylor Swift's catchy tune this morning which I decided will be my birthday tune for the day. I can't quite believe a whole year has passed since my 21st birthday but life seems to whizz by nowadays!

 

It's actually funny that the lyrics of 22 say 'I'm feeling twenty-two' because who actually knows what 22 feels like? Nobody, age is different for every single person. People always ask if you feel older or any different which is really quite a ridiculous thing to ask, as if you are suddenly going to feel completely different just because the clock has gone past 12 and a new day has started. However, I do look different on this birthday as I spent 3 hours in the hairdressers on Friday getting my hair cut and coloured. I'm going to post some before and after pictures at some point this week as well as a birthday summary.

 

There is also a massive difference between the weather on my birthday, last year there was definitely snow on the ground but I can't remember if it did snow on the actual day of my birthday or not, whereas this year it is gloriously sunny and relatively warm. The pleasures of being a spring baby, you never know what weather you'll get!

 

Happy Birthday to me!

 

Ciao for now...

'The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry'

Ciao,

 

Today I am a week away from my 22nd birthday and the difference in my life between now and this time last year is actually astounding. This time last year my Dad was home and fine and I was half way through my second year at uni and planning my year abroad. It's funny how you plan a path for yourself and in the blink of an eye your path has been completely redirected. I feel that I have learnt a lot more in this past year than ever before; I have learnt that life is unpredictable and to quote John Steinbeck 'The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry'.

 

I've been feeling fairly miserable the past few weeks because I feel as though I'm off course and it worries me that I am about to turn 22 and I don't feel any closer to any of my goals. I feel as though I am in some sort of limbo between adolescence and actual adulthood. University life is not a real reflection of adulthood and its responsibilities, you have tonnes of free time, a sparse timetable and more socialising time than anything else and I have to say that I cannot wait to be done with university. I know I will probably regret wishing that time away but as of right now I have done 3 years of A Levels and 3 years of a degree, by the time I graduate I will have spent 7 years in higher education and be 23 years old. I feel as though I'm waiting for my life to start, I want to be out of education with a job so I can start my career and begin saving for a house. How old do I sound?

 

Do you ever feel stuck in a rut? Do you compare your 'progress' to others your age or use your own aspirations as a marker?

 

Ciao for now...