Plans for the rest of 2019

We're coming up to September so we're very nearly 2/3 through the year with only the last third to go. I started the year off well in terms of my goals and things I wanted to achieve and managed to stick to it. However recently I've slid a bit downhill. I want to write down some plans that I want to get done in the last third of the year to make myself accountable and make you guys make sure I keep at it!

Happy July! - Mid year update

Where did June go? Seriously, the amount of times I've posted a monthly update with a comment about how fast a month has gone feels like nothing compared to June.

At the beginning of the month, I sit down and draw out my monthly spreads in my bullet journal. In these, I sort out monthly mini goals, things I want to focus on, and blog posts I plan to post. June was the same as any other month this year, I planned out my goals and I organised the blog posts I would write and then it was gone. All these things I planned to do and didn't manage made me feel like I'd failed and wasted a month.

I sat down to write my June books wrap up post like I do every other month and found out I only read 3 books, which to be quite honest with you was more than I thought I had read. Do three books still equal a roundup post? Probably, keep your eyes out for it in the coming days.

Four (more) Podcasts I've Been Loving Lately

I go through phases of what I like to listen to at work; sometimes it's playing my regular 2019 playlist or blasting a musical soundtrack (hello Hamilton), sometimes it's binging an audiobook, and sometimes it's listening to episode after episode of podcasts. I go wherever the mood takes me however recently I've been in that podcast mood a lot and there's only so many Potterless episodes I can listen to in a row (don't get me wrong I still love Potterless) so I had to find some new podcasts to listen to. Here are a few that are top of the list at the moment if I'm in that podcast mood:

5 Marvel Films You Need To See

It's no secret that Avengers: Infinity War took over the world this year, but what other Marvel films are worth checking out? In my opinion, most of them but here's 5 that should be the top of your list. In no particular order...

Forget being flustered: How a daily routine works for me

Some people laugh when I say I'm in bed by ten every 'school' night, but the same people also don't understand how I'm so chill and organised under deadline pressure and other similar stresses. The tip, my dears, is routine. Well actually it's knowing what your body likes, and mine likes routine.

One of my most hated things is being rushed. I don't like being rushed at all and if you tell me we're going out at 9 when it's already 8.30 without any previous warning all things go downhill and my mood instantly switches. I'm flustered and annoyed and usually end up in tears or poking myself in the eye with my mascara wand also resulting in tears. But that doesn't mean I can't handle stressful situations and big deadlines.

I failed... and that's okay

I've been talking about this 100-day lettering project so much around the internet and guess what? I never made it past day 55. Everyone in NZ who started the project at the same time as me, according to the Facebook group that was around 400 of us, should be finishing this week. But do you know what? I'm okay with not finishing. I'm okay with essentially failing because it was a personal challenge that I tried to do in my spare time, and in the end, I didn't have enough spare time to manage it amongst all my other side projects.

So, how are the 2018 goals going?

All year I planned to do a 2018 goal update, ever since I posted my creative goals back here in January. But now I sit down to it I realised that I've only completed one goal (buying my Macbook yassss team I'm in love) and the rest I either haven't started or are in the middle of doing. Because guys - plans don't get done in a month or two, they take a while. However, that aside I still want to do a goal catch up post because it's great to look back on and also it keeps me in check for the rest of the year.

The Marine Parade Eatery ~ Paraparaumu Beach, NZ

Apple Crumble French Toast guys!

For my birthday (yes I know that was April I'm slack) my family and I headed out for lunch at The Marine Parade Eatery in Paraparaumu Beach and let's just say the food was excellent! Coming from someone who goes to pretty much the same cafes all the time for brunch it was really nice to try somewhere new. My parents had been here previously a couple of times but it was my brother and I's first time.

I turned 24, and I'm sort of unsure about it

Twenty four is one of the ages I've struggled turning the most. At 20 I was no longer a teen, 21 is a big year to most people, 22 was my Taylor Swift year (the song not a fanatic phase), 23 was my golden birthday (23 on the 23rd), so now 24 is a bit of a regular standard birthday. It's also super close to 25, which to me is super close to 30 which is super close to 40 and frankly, I'm not ready for that.

25 Songs From My Favourites Playlist

I'm not usually one to talk about music on here because usually my music tastes are very much full of popular charts, listening to my parent's faves from my childhood, or I'm going through a phrase of blasting Disney songs wherever I go. However, as I've finally downloaded Spotify at work near the end of last year I had to make a playlist that I could listen to day in day out and not get bored, but also be filled with songs I knew fairly well enough to fall into the zone of work and not get distracted everytime a new song came on. So when I haven't been binging The Greatest Showman soundtrack on repeat here's a 25 track example of my 10-hour playlist:

The Blog Turned Five // Five Favourite Posts of All Time

April is not only my own birthday month but it's also my blog birthday month! Earlier this week, on the 4th to be exact, my blog turned 5 years old. Now while I haven't been blogging that entire time, my first post was released on the 4th of April 2013 when I was bored after one of my classes in the first year of university. 

Moodboard: The One with the Chocolate Eggs

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

I don't know about you, but I could not wait for this four day weekend. After some rather busy weeks since going back to work after Christmas I was in due need for a holiday, and because I'm saving my holidays up for halfway through the year I've been throughly taking advantage of these public holidays.

How To Find Inspiration For Blogging - Tips and Tricks

When you're creating, what's hopefully unique, content as frequently as we do there's bound to be a time you hit a wall. Writer's block, burnout, blogging fatigue - whatever you want to call it even the best bloggers have had it. So as well as taking some time out, do allow yourself to do that, here are some tips and tricks to find inspiration for your blogposts and give yourself a bit of a push in the right direction. Of course, this is what works for me so may not necessarily work for you but it's worth a try and do post a comment below if there's anything that works for you that I've missed! On with the show:

Five TV Shows I've Constantly Got On Repeat

Binging TV Shows is definitely one of my favourite ways to wind down and relax and while I’ve binged a lot of shows (and a lot of shows still to come, how do we ever have enough time?) there’s not many I would rewatch time and time again. Unlike movies which I can rewatch multiple times, I mean I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched The Devil Wears Prada, TV Shows I often find a bit boring if you know what’s going to happen. Here are five shows though that I have rewatched multiple times and would happily watch many more times before I’m ever bored of them, in fact, my boyfriend and I normally rewatch each of these at least once a year. They’re also the shows you’ll find me quoting the most.

Mood: The One with the February Monthly Favourites

Kitty Trinket Saucers | Floral Tattoo | Rust Wrap Dress | Behind the Flatlay | Cacti | Follow Me

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Last week was a rather hectic week at work so while my boyfriend was away on tour during the week I spent my time catching up on all my loves. I binged so much YouTube that my watch later is now empty and everything on my Bloglovin' list has been read. I even managed to fit in seeing The Greatest Showman for the first time! Finally, am I right??? Why yes, I am listening to the soundtrack while writing this because I'm like anyone else on the internet right now and slightly obsessed. That's probably why my blog posts are taking twice as long to write because I keep having to pause and belt out a line or two. But here are some other things I've been loving:

Let's talk about... Self Care

There's a lot of talk about self care around the internet these days. People talking about how they don't do it enough, people recommending many ways they self care, and others talking about how it's a load of crap.

Four blogposts I've been loving lately

I've been collecting posts to share with you all over the past week or so and turns out the posts I've been loving lately all have a similar theme. I've definitely been on a buzz of 'screw it I don't want to be doing the normal things that everyone expects' type of posts. You know the ones? The 'I'm not a typical blogger I have faults' type of posts. While I sound like I'm putting them down by making fun of them, I'm actually really enjoying the number of people that have given up with what's expected for a typical blogger. If you haven't seen any of these blogposts I've linked a few below, and a few other posts I've been loving!

Mood: The One With All The Goals!

Private Lagoon | Plaid Coat | Minimalist Home Decor | Twenty Seventeen

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January is always the month of resolutions and goals, it's also usually the month of broken resolutions and breakdowns over goals, but that's okay! Personally, I've felt that this month has been one of the slowest months since I can remember, I'm not sure if any of you feel the same?

Five Podcasts I've Been Loving Lately

Podcasts are becoming quite popular lately, and in the second half of last year I discovered how great they are to listen to at work. Just something on in the background while you're ticking off things you're working on. I thought I'd share some of my favourites that I've been listening to.

The Queue

This is one of the first podcasts I actually listened to. I'd been subscribed to Scott on Youtube on OhYeahDisney and after discovering a podcast that was pretty much like their videos but that I could listen to while doing work was great! The thing about podcasts is they have to have good voices and boy are Scott and Ryan nice to listen to, especially as they talk about all things Disney and Disney Parks related. Unfortunately, it's now ended but there are still a fair amount of episodes there for you to listen to if you're into all things Disney.

Better Words

I’ve followed this from the very beginning and although I haven’t listened to all the episodes yet, I got distracted one week and then the next thing you know you’re more and more behind. Either way, Caitlin and Michelle are Australian book bloggers who’ve brought their love of books together into a podcast. Just two friends chatting about books, highly entertaining and great for all book lovers!

My Dad Wrote A Porno 

I’d heard in passing a lot about this but never really looked into it, then while I was bored at work one afternoon looking through iTunes for a new podcast to listen to I started listening to it. I don’t exactly know why I thought it would be a good idea to listen to this in the office but hey I’m many many episodes in and I freaking love it. Less so for the graphic content, but more for the hilarious commentary. Jamie, James and Alice are so hilarious to listen to and I recommend you listen to Belinda’s adventures, maybe not at work though.

Swish and Flick

The most recent podcast I’ve gotten into, I realised a few weeks ago that while I listened to a fair amount of podcasts I’d never actually found a Harry Potter related podcast that I enjoyed. Insert Swish and Flick. Similar to Better Words, Swish and Flick is just four friends chatting about their love of Harry Potter. Each episode is dedicated to a chapter of the books, going into the details and connecting dots between the lines and content from Pottermore. Just a whole lot of potter nerdiness, I plan on getting through so much more of this!

At Home With...

If you’re not really a podcast listener but are familiar with the bloggers scene you may be aware of this one. At Home With... is lead by bloggers Lily Pebbles and Anna Newton chatting with the famous and slightly famous in their own homes. Personally I haven’t listened to all the episodes as this is the sort of thing I enjoy only if I sort of know the person they’re interviewing - I find it a bit boring if I don’t know them (just like any other interview podcast/video etc). It’s rather a different perspective to the usual interviews and it’s kind of cool to see inside the homes of these rather famous people (if you listen to their podcast on Acast you’ll get a running commentary of images too.)

What sorts of podcasts do you enjoy? Are there any you'd recommend?

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Five favourite movies for Christmas

Christmas movies have always been special to me because we were only allowed them in December. There was no watching Elf in the middle of the year like some people do, mum wouldn’t allow it. The Christmas DVD box would come out December 1st and get returned to the cupboard on Boxing Day. It’s a tradition I’ve continued into my adult life, although minus the Christmas DVD box seeing as all our Christmas movies are on a hard drive.

As I only got to watch them during December we would only really get to watch each of them once a year which made each viewing special and sort of new (even though we all still knew all the words to most of them). Here are my top five movies, and one cheeky TV special that I make sure to watch first every year, I’ve already seen 5/6 of them this December... only The Grinch to go!

Elf

People either love or hate Elf and I for one freaking love it, I’m not sure I would call it my favourite of all time but it’s definitely top five! There’s just something flipping festive about Buddy, and his way of life that just gets you into the Christmas spirit! For once, also the storyline is a bit different. It's not based on Santa, or Santas family and it doesn't even show any presents being delivered or the actual Christmas day. Try it once, it's definitely more for the kids, but you'll either love it or hate it so why not try!

The Grinch

As a kid my Dad hated The Grinch movie so we never had the video or DVD, however, my auntie did. So whenever we spent a night over at hers (sometimes not even in December, sorry mum) we would watch The Grinch to catch up on what we were missing out. When we got older my mum ended up caving and getting the DVD so it’s now joined in the yearly tradition, especially with the fact that my Dad actually likes it now! Another one that's not based around Santa, I mean unless you count the fact that The Grinch dresses up and pretends to be Santa...

Arthur Christmas 

One of the newer ones on the list, Arthur Christmas is just so heartwarming and lovely and makes you feel all the feels. Every single one of the characters has such a different personality and they mature and develop throughout the entire thing and I just love it! There's no basic jolly Santa or regular sleigh in this movie. Plus it's an all-star cast, and hearing Hugh Laurie play what's essentially the Santa-in-training character is just great.

The Santa Clause

One of the OG Christmas movies, apart from Barney’s Night Before Christmas this is one of the first Christmas movies I remember watching as a kid. While the two other movies in the series are alright, nothing beats the first Clause. I can tell you all the lines and exactly what song comes in at what time, I love it.

Love Actually

I had never actually watched Love Actually til a few years ago, and boy was I missing out. I just didn’t think it was a proper Christmas film and was just your average lovey doves boring movie based around Christmas. Let’s just say the year I was trying to watch every and all Christmas movies known to Google changed my life in the thing called Love Actually and I’ve never looked back. It’s probably tied at the top of my favourites, if you don’t like the regular Christmas movies aimed at kids then you’ll probably like this one. And I recommend it just for the scene where Hugh Grant dances around number 10 Downing Street as the Prime Minister to be quite honest.

Gavin and Stacey Xmas Special

My sneaky TV Christmas special is dedicated to Gavin and Stacey. If you haven’t seen Gavin and Stacey you probably won’t enjoy it, but I’d binge watch it right now if I were you (FYI the Christmas special sits in between season 2 and 3). It’s just the epitome of a regular British Christmas and it’s just a good laugh. It's such a favourite in my family that we actually all watched it either on December 1st or a few days after, before all the regular movies, it's not one we save until later in the month.

What are your favourites?

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