101 in 1001 Update!

Last year I published a ‘bucket list’ of sorts, with 101 things I wanted to do in 1001 days. The original post can be found here.  Today is the day I will finally post an update of my progress so far 243 days down the line. I am approximately 25% of the way through this challenge and in my mind I would have loved to have crossed off 25% of the things but in reality, that just hasn’t happened. However I have managed to cross some things off so lets see how I got on.

11) Get my blog professionally redesigned – Aleelily Designs made me a custom blog design which, I have to admit, has made me feel much more positive about blogging. Having a good layout makes me blog feel more professional and together which makes me want to blog more!

27) Start a Wreck This Journal – For my 21^st birthday my sister bought me a Wreck This Journal. She printed out my 101 in 1001 list and crossed this item off for me. I have started it and it was a struggle. Writing in books just goes against what comes natural to me. Books are for reading, not destroying but I am enjoying the creative process more than I thought I would. Thanks Gracie you star!

28) Buy a disposable camera and take photo’s the old fashioned way! – Another one my sister helped me out with. She bought me a disposable camera alongside the Wreck This Journal and I managed to fill the camera with photos from my holiday to Thassos.

83) Do 50 squats a day for 30 days – This was one I found easy to complete. Once you get into the hang of having to do the squats it’s a doddle. I did mine before the shower every morning in an attempt to wake myself up and get some form of exercise into the day.

Those are the things I have managed to cross of completely as finished. As you can see I have not exactly done amazingly but I am trying and that’s all that counts. However this year I am going to make more of an effort with this list as I do not want to come to the end of the 1001 days having only crossed off a small amount of things. So, without further ado my list related goals for this year are:

1) Graduate with a 2.1 or higher

2) Get a First in my dissertation

5) Reach 300 followers on Bloglovin’

6) Enter the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2015

13) Post 10 more wishlist posts on the blog

14) Get 200 twitter followers

16) Get together savings of £500+

19) Be clear of my overdraft by the time I graduate (July 2015)

36) Visit two new countries

41) Go to a zoo I’ve never been to before

47) Visit a water park

59) Go parasailing

60) Conquer my fear of Oblivion at Alton Towers

65) Go out to eat, just for dessert

84) Do 50 star jumps a day for 30 days

85) Lose a stone and maintain this weight

86) Start driving lessons

95) Watch all of Breaking Bad (I am currently watching this so hopefully this can be ticked off soon!)

96) Finish watching The Walking Dead

So there you have it, the huge list of things I definitely want crossed off by the end of this year! Some should be much easier than others such as watching Breaking Bad and doing 50 star jumps but I am very motivated to keep going and cross off as many things as possible!

Playsuit Wishlist

one//two//three//four//five//six//seven//eight

Now I don’t know about you, but I love a good wish list post and I’m not ashamed to say I had so much fun putting this one together in Photoshop. Playsuits are something that I just do not own enough of, in fact I own one and I feel like now is the time to add to my wardrobe. I think they are great to have as you can dress them up with the right jewellery and some heels or dress them down with tights and boots. I seem to have gone for floral or checked offerings with this list which is strange as I don’t own that many patterned clothes.

Which is your favourite out of the eight that I have chosen? I love them all equally and would love to buy them all! Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

New Years Resolutions 2015

Before I get underway with this post, I just want to say I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and really made the most of the festivities. I hope Santa brought you all the things you deserve and you had a truly magical day! I’ve loved reading peoples ‘what I got for Christmas’ posts and plan to write one myself soon. Also I hope you welcomed 2015 with a smile on your face and a lot of excitement for the year to come. Happy new year to everyone reading this, I hope it’s a good one!

2015 is a scary year for me; I decided that at the end of last year. The second half of 2015 holds a lot of unknowns. I don’t know where I will be living, where I will be working, if I will have enough money or if I will be happy. However I am going to spend the first half of 2015 making sure I am okay with the changes and comfortable with what will happen. 2015 is the year I graduate university and will be the first time since I was three years old that I will not be in education. This scares me a lot. But from now on I am not going to focus on the negatives; I will be focussed on the positives. I am going to find happiness in 2015, let go of the past and (hopefully) become a much more laid back and stress free person.

With that in mind, here are my goals or resolutions for the upcoming year:

• Blog more – I want to really get my blog going this year, I want to dedicate more time to it and see where this takes me. I love to write and I love taking photos so really this should be a doddle! I need to develop a schedule and become more organised so I feel less stressed when it comes to my blog. Things will be changed around here, for the better!

• Be more positive – This is pretty self-explanatory. I am definitely a negative person and this effects my mood. I’m going to buy myself a 2015 week-to-view diary and write down three positive things from each day. This will help me to find positive things in all aspects, even when I feel I’ve had a pretty rough day.

• Say yes more – A simple one on paper but quite a difficult one for me to put into practice. I say no to things more than I say yes and this means I often miss out. I will be saying yes to more nights out, day trips, socialising and general new things.

• Take more photographs – 2013 was the year I bought myself a DSLR, 2014 was the year I used it about 5 times. 2015 however is going to be the year I understand the controls and learn to take beautiful images. My dad enjoys photography and doesn’t go anywhere without his camera. I am hoping to be more like my dad in that respect and try not to miss and opportunities to build up my skills. Hopefully this will translate over onto the blog with better quality images accompanying blog posts.

• Wear make-up more – This may seem like a funny one as from the posts I’ve read so far ‘no make up days’ are high on the resolution list for a lot of people. However, I want to learn how to wear makeup properly this year in time for my graduation in July (eeeek) so that I can look and feel great in all of the photos. I want it to be a memorable day for the right reasons, not memorable because I felt gross and uncomfortable the whole day.

• Become healthier – This means more fruit, more veg and much more water! I am rubbish at eating healthily, the amount of money I have spent on takeaways and junk food is embarrassing and such a waste. Fruit and veg is so much more affordable in the long run and has the obvious added health benefits. I want to reintroduce my juicer into my life and experiment more with homemade juices. It is such an easy way to add good foods to my diet.

• Lose weight – I know, I know, this is on everyone’s list every single year but this year I mean it. I always enjoy going to the gym and I enjoy nice clothes, what I do not enjoy is feeling unhappy with how I look so this is going to change. I want to lose a stone this year, and although that may sound small to some, it will be a challenge for me.

• Complete more of my 101 in 1001 – 2015 is the year for adventure, I have already decided this. I want to explore tonnes of new places both in this country and abroad. Luckily this ties in very well with other resolutions (take more photos, say yes more, blog more) as I want to share my adventures with you reading this. There are lots of things on my 101 in 1001 list that I want to complete this year. There will be a post in more detail explaining this but if you are confused as to what I mean, check out my original list here.

This post has been a lot longer than I originally planned it to be but I have really enjoyed sitting and typing this all out and letting my thoughts flow freely from my fingertips. Have you set yourself some resolutions or goals for the year ahead? If you have, share them below! Feel free to leave me links to your new years resolution blog posts in the comments section as I love reading them!