2021 Rewind

 

Happy New Year everyone!

This year has defiantly been the craziest one in a long time and yet it has flown by.  Looking back it seems surreal to me all that has happened in the past 365 days. So, as is tradition I wanted to share with you a look back into last year in my 2021 rewind.

I started to write this post detailing what happened and how I felt each month, but I only made it to April and I didn’t like how negative it made the year sound.  So, I wanted to try something else that would recognize the hard times but focus on the good times.

The first three months of 2021 was the lowest I think I have ever felt.  Anxiety was at an all time high, I was fed up, sad and spent most nights in floods of tears.  It was during this time that I really learnt the importance and power of gratitude and looking on the positive side of things.  As cases/deaths decreased and the vaccination process was in full swing, we began to come out of lockdown.  By April, the end was in sight, the roadmap was set out and we would soon be able to see family/friends and the events industry would open giving me the hope that I would return to my dream job.

Although these months were some of my worst, I learnt so much and so I don’t want to forget that. I normally describe myself as a glass half full, positive person.  But being positive doesn’t have to mean you are happy all the time.  It means that even on the toughest days you know better ones are coming. This is a lesson I hope to carry with me forever.

Better days did come and looking back I actually did a lot more than I thought, despite various restrictions!

I had some amazing family reunions from dinners and shopping trips to my Aunties wedding.  It was so nice to finally see everyone again and what a way to celebrate than at a wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony and the evening was filled with lots of dancing, laughs and crazy games.  I even got to help decorate it which was so nice to do again!

In May I recorded a song with my sister about our relationship and growing up together which was so much fun. Check her out on Instagram @wattnotsings for amazing covers and originals.

I made some amazing memories with friends, making the local paper watching the football, breaking out of my first escape room, going on dog walks and dancing away at the local festival.

In July I had the best staycation with my boyfriend and my family in Wales.  We climbed Mount Snowden, climbed a waterfall, went extreme canyoning and so much more.  It was a beautiful week filled with love and laughter that I will always remember. 

 

In October I completed the Great South Run blindfolded and deaf in order to raise money and awareness for Ushers Syndrome.  My boyfriend and I completed it in under 2 hours and raised an incredible £1,422.  It will be a day I never forget as I crossed the line and hugged my cousin who was diagnosed with Ushers Syndrome. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing boyfriend who was quite literally tied to me the whole way round!

To celebrate my birthday, my boyfriend and I were lucky to make it to Paris in November!  It was such a magical weekend as we saw all the sights from The Louvre, Notre Dame, St Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe and even climbed the Eiffel Tower. Our first trip away together and I didn’t want it to end.  Although it was very different due to COVID restrictions, we were lucky to get to go and do all that we did there. If you want to read more about out trip, check out my previous blog post: Birthday trip to Paris.

Another great thing to come out of 2021 was my job.  The year began in roadworks, dreaming about events. In August, my dream came true as the events industry re-opened and I landed an internship at one of the local museums.  I met some amazing people and learnt a lot during my time there.  My biggest achievement being planning and coordinating the first live event on their newest attraction, a WW2 vessel.  As I stood there watching the performance, news camera around me and audience members singing along my eyes filled with tears.  This had been what I was waiting for.  I was back in the world of events and I felt so happy.

Having been triple jabbed Christmas was finally here and I got to celebrate it surrounded by all my family.  It felt so good to be able to bring our traditions back and sit around the tree once more.  Although the crazy is starting to come back with a new variant on the loose it didn’t matter for we were together at last.

Unfortunately, my new year hasn’t started how I had hoped.  As the clock struck midnight, I sat on facetime to my boyfriend, a shot of night nurse in my hand watching the London fireworks suffering with COVID. 

It may not have been the start to the year I had hoped, but if I have learnt anything from last year it’s that it can always go up.  2021 had its good times and its bad.  I feel I have grown a lot as I experienced new things and took on new challenges.

I don’t know what 2022 will hold but unlike last year, I feel a lot more positive and I know good things are coming.

Current Favourite Makeup Products

These past few days have been spent unpacking and although at first thought this may seem boring, something I have loved doing is unpacking and organising my makeup!  This week I thought I would share with you some of my current favourite products.

I have recently discovered the L'Oreal Glow Cherie and I love it! It is great to apply under your base to give you that extra glow.  I have even worn this on a more relaxed makeup day with just concealer and no foundation and it had good coverage and was lightweight on my skin too. 

One of my all time favourite products has to be the collection lasting perfection concealer, I have used it since I was 16 and it never fails me. It is perfect for covering under eye bags and any spots or blemishes you wish to hide. It new packaging is amazing too! 

Another product I have had for a while but recently re-discovered when unpacking is the NARS Bronzer in the shade Laguna.  The packaging is gorgeous and the makeup is even better!  I am no makeup expert but I would say this has cooler tones in it which is perfect to use all year round.  It applies easy and blends well too which is a bonus for when I am rushing to get ready in the morning haha! 

Blusher is something I don't often wear, but this summer I have fallen back in love with the NARS blush in the shade Orgasm.  For someone who doesn't wear blusher all the time, this one can look a bit scary at first as it is a rather bright pink with a lot of shimmer in it.  But, when applied with the right brush and with a lighter touch this is perfect to give you a bit of colour on a summer day and I would defiantly recommend it. 

Speaking of shimmer, my current favourite highlighter pallet is another one I have re-discovered whilst organising my makeup. I have swapped between powder and cream highlighters for a while now and at the moment I am using the Sleek highlighter palette which is a creamier texture.  It has 4 beautiful colours ranging from white to a sparkly pink and they look even better once applied!  I like to use my finger when using cream highlighter as I feel it blends better and the colour stands out more, this is no exception. 

Something I have loved for a while now is liquid lipsticks and my latest find one of my favourites!  The Mellow Cosmetic liquid lipstick in the shade Shanghai is so easy to apply and the colour is gorgeous.  I would say this is more of an autumnal colour, but I love it so much I have been wearing it in summer too! 

So, these are some of my current fav makeup products. I would love to know if you have tried any of these or what some of your favourite makeup products are.

New Year goals

In some ways January is one of my favourite times of the year, as for me, it's a fresh start. I am one of those people who like to set myself goals of things I would like to improve on for the next year. I try to make these as relaxed as possible and not to be too specific by setting dates or targets, so then if I don’t achieve them it is not such a big deal.

This year going into a new decade, I have tried to think not just about goals for 2020, but for the next 10 years. In this post I thought I would share these with you...

Goals for 2020:

1)      Run 10miles – Now I know earlier I said I wasn’t going to make my goals specific, but this one has a good reason. At the end of October I will be running 10 miles to raise money for a charity close to my heart (more on this in a blog post to come). So, this has now become one of my 2020 goals and is the first ‘target goal’ I have had in years.

2)      Skin care routine – I have wanted to get into the habit of having a skin care routine for a while now but have never quite found the time or have simply forgotten about it. I would say I am very lucky in that I rarely get spots except the odd hormonal one which are like second heads! However, I have always said it is important to look after you skin whether you get lots of spots or none at all.  So, this year I am going to start in the hope that it continues over the next decade.  

3)      Read more – I have always enjoyed reading and found it nice way to relax and get lost in another world. However, I always say I never have time for it meaning I only really read when on holiday. For Christmas I was very lucky and got a kindle from my parents, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to use it! I have now made it half way through a book by simply putting down my phone in the evenings and have found it so relaxing.

Goals for the next decade:

1)      Don’t care about what people think – I think this is something everyone goes through at some point in their life. I have always thought that this was something that got easier with age and for me I feel this is true. In some aspects of my life or at certain times I feel I don’t care what people think, yet in other times I do care and let it take control of me. This is something I want to change over the next decade as quite frankly I am tired of letting my thoughts of what people MAY think rule what I wear, what I do or how I feel.

2)      Look after me more – I want to start doing this in a number of ways and start putting my mental and physical health as more of a priority.

One way in which I will do this is by keeping my fitness levels up and eating healthier. Last year I reduced the amount of sugary squash I was drinking and swapped to water and green tea and it made the world of difference! Since the start of the year I have been going to the gym more and found this has been a great way to release stress and anger from work and life.

Another way I will do this is by thinking more about myself. Getting rid of negative people and doing things I want to do by saying NO more. I have always struggled with saying no or thinking more about other people than myself. This has lead me to do things I don't always want to do and missing out on things I do want to do as a result. But over the next decade, I hope to get out of this and starting thinking about me and what I want. 

So, these are my new year and new decade goals. I will have to remember this post and look back on it in the next 10 years to find out whether I stuck to them or not...

Back to the basics

I began blogging whilst at university and fell in love the whole idea of sharing tips, tricks and my favourite things. I enjoyed it so much I set up my own blog upon finishing university!

When at university I used to upload weekly and I had myself in a nice little routine with it. So, I decided to stick to a similar thing with my personal blog. Although good at times, I found I was then just writing for the sake of it as opposed because it was genuinely something I wanted to talk about. So, I changed it up and began to upload as and when I wanted and about something I really wanted to share and not just because it was a Sunday and I had to write a weekly post.

It has been 4 months exactly since my last blog post and life has been crazy to say the least. I have laughed and cried, I have wanted to re-live moments and wished some moments had never happened. The past few weeks in particular I didn’t want to blog because I was down and if I’m honest I wasn’t sure I wanted to share how I was feeling. But, looking back on the past few weeks, I could have really done with typing it all up, letting it all out and maybe attempting at giving myself advice.

It has been during this time, I realised what I liked about blogging so much. It was my place to document my life, let out how I was feeling and almost give myself advice as if I was talking to someone else. I feel like sharing when you are sad is just as important as when you are happy. Nobody’s life is perfect all the time and if you keep it bottled in, it will only get worse. If anything, it is nice to see you are not alone in how you feel sometimes.

I have really missed blogging and writing this post to you now, I can defiantly tell I am rusty! I am going to try and get back into it any minute I can in the hope that it will cheer me back up, and hopefully help some of you too! I have realised that it’s okay to not be okay and it’s better to let it out then bottle it up. So, I can’t promise I won’t share the odd ‘feeling low’ post, but I hope in me sharing the downs as well as the ups, people can see that life is never perfect and we all have our good days and bad days.

So here it goes….

Valentines Treat!

The past few days I have been experiencing a craving for cookies! It sounds weird I know, but sometimes I just crave random things from fruit to sweets.

So, I this week, thought I would turn my craving into a sweet treat for Valentines day! I got this recipe from Tanya Burr and oh my goodness they are AMAZING! 

You will need: 

200g butter

300g caster sugar

1 large egg

275g self raising flour

75g coco powder

1 bar of dairy milk 

1 bar of white chocolate

Step 1: Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees 

Step 2: Prepare you baking trays by lining them with grease prof paper

Step 3: Add the caster sugar and butter into a mixing bowl. Tip: add the sugar first so it won't stick to the butter. 

Step 4: Stir until light and soft. Tip: You can use a mixer, however I used a classic wooden spoon and it worked just as good. 

Step 5: Add the egg and mix together

Step 6: Add in the flour and coco powder. Tip: if you are hand mixing it, don't put it all into the bowl at once, try adding a little at a time. 

Step 7: Break up your chocolate and add into the mixture. Tip: if you are finding it hard to mix the chunks in with the spoon, just use your hands!

Step 8: Section the dough into balls and place them onto your baking trays. You can make them as big or small as you like. 

Step 9: Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Tip: They will not look cooked when you take them out the oven. I did get worried when placing a knife in the centre and the mixture being on it when pulling it out, however it does harden when cooling. 

Step 10: Leave to cool for 5 minutes. Tip: If you leave it too long, it may be hard to cut into shapes.

Step 11: Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut your cookies into shapes.

Step 12: Leave to cool for a further 25 minutes. 

Enjoy! 

This past month has been crazy amazing as I have celebrated my 21^st Birthday! I actually can’t believe I am 21. When you turn 13 you become a teenager, at 16 you can buy a lottery ticket, at 17 you can start to drive, turning 18 means you can legally drink and go clubbing however 21 is weird as it is a milestone birthday but nothing really comes with it in the UK. Yet I do feel different like I had done at all the other milestone birthdays.

Turning 21 makes me feel as though I am now an official adult as I enter a different level of maturity. A lot of my friends weren’t or aren’t looking forward to turning 21. They didn’t like the idea of being an adult of having to be more responsible. But who says you have to be boring at the age of 21, who says being an adult means you can party, drink and have fun with friends. Before the day came, I was a little worried as I had only heard these negative views on turning 21 from those around me. However, I found I was more excited and now having turned 21 I can’t wait to see what this next step in life brings. I am soon to finish university, am now classed as more of an adult and I am thinking a lot into the future but can’t wait to start looking for jobs, housing and my life after university as an adult!

Last year, one of my friends wrote a blog post for our university when she turned 18 which was 18 lessons she had learnt over the past 18 years. I really loved this concept and thought I could share with you some of the lessons I have learnt during my 21 years of life so far. So, here are my 21 lessons from 21 years of experience:

1.     Be kind to your family - I am very much a family orientated person and I am very lucky in that I know they will be there for me no matter what! So, I think it is very important to be kind and respect your family.

2.     Anger isn’t worth it - I am not one to get angry often as quite honestly I don’t see the point. If anything, anger makes a situation far worse than it has to be.

3.     Remember the complements, forget the insults - This one can be tough sometimes, but I think now a days it is so important we support one another. Insults are often made by those who are jealous or those who would never say it to your face! So who cares what they think. Dwelling on the negatives is easily done but can be unhealthy, so I think it is better if we try and hold onto the positives.

4.     It’s the little things - Little things like saying thank you, or smiling or even holding the door for someone can make a huge difference to someone’s day. I know when I am having a rubbish day, little acts of kindness make all the difference.

5.     Don’t worry about the future - I have only recently learnt this lesson. Sometimes if you worry too much and try and plan too far ahead, it won’t work and your future may remain blank for a while. What will be, will be, don’t worry about it!

6.     Everything happens for a reason - This kind of links with lesson 5 but it is something I am a huge believer of! Whether it is good or bad it all happens for a reason! So although something may seem bad at the time, in the future it could be the best thing that happened to you!

7.     It’s okay not to be okay - Again, this is a lesson I have learnt over the past year. Everyone has their down days, weeks or months and that is okay! You don’t have to keep a smile all the time! Chances are there is someone else in the world who is feeling the exact same thing!

8.     Being in a relationship isn’t everything - Most people think only single people say this! But I have heard many who are in a relationship say this. There are more important things in life than being in a relationship. So, don’t get hung up on being single and remember everything happens for a reason so Mr Right could be just around the corner!

9.     Live each day as though it’s your last - I have felt myself taking in every aspect of the day since blogging. It sounds weird but I feel more aware of every sound, image or touch and want to take it all in and cherish it as though I will never relive it again. By following this lesson, I feel I have enjoyed each day more whether it is good or bad.

10.  It’s not what you know, it’s who you know - This is another lesson I have learnt more since coming to university. Yes, I have learnt so much since going to university but I have met so many amazing people and in some ways I have learnt even more from them! I also feel this lesson is especially true when it comes to looking for work.

11.  Friendship is complicated - Not all friendships are going to be straight forward. People change and with that so does friendship. Trust me, I know it can be hard. I have lost friends, seen them change and had people I thought were friends turn out to be the complete opposite. But unfortunately that is one of the lessons in life we have to learn. Although I am aware of this now, I still haven’t learnt how to fully deal with it and at times it can be hard. But that lesson may be learnt in time.

12.  Treat others how you wish to be treated - I have always tried to live by this rule since we were taught it in school. At times I have found it hard, as people don’t always treat you the same, especially when it comes to friendships. But at least I can say it is something I do.

13.  Not everyone does things the way you do - This links in with the previous lesson. But since coming to university and meeting more people, it is even clearer that not everyone is the same. There is nothing wrong with doing things differently, however I know with some things such as  cleaning some people like to keep things tidy and others don’t which can be difficult at times.

14.  Hard work pays off in the end - This is true in many aspects. I have seen it at the end of most months when getting paid from work after doing crazy hours! I have felt it when getting a good grade back after spending weeks stressing over an assignment and even things like a good gym work out can have results in the end.

15.  Don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild - I have always been told I have such a good imagination. I think this should be something everyone feels they can do. However, I do find it leads me to overthink everything as I imagine every possible scenario.

16.  Thoughts aren’t real - This one is another I have recently learnt ad in some way still trying to get my head around. Just because you think it doesn’t mean it is real. For example, just because you think someone doesn’t like you doesn’t make it so. Or just because you think you have weird hair doesn’t mean you do.

17.  It’s okay to be selfish sometimes - I’d say I learnt this when I turned 18 and it is probably one of my favourite rules. You have to think about yourself every now and then and that is okay, it is your life and you deserve to make it how you want. Don’t let anyone else stand in the way.

18.  Take a chance - You never know where it could lead you!

19.  202Learn to love yourself - This is still a lesson I am getting my head around as some days I do and other days I don’t. However, I think it is so important we take care of our self and learn to love our self.

20. Patience is key - This kind of links with second lesson. Everything isn’t going to happen straight away, so no need to get angry for everything will work out in the end.

21. Age is just a number!