Oh look, another entire year has gone by and I've barely touched the blog - what a surprise!
I'm disappointed in myself for letting this slip. Last year I was dedicated AF to this blog, and I think that was more about having a four-posts-per-month goal and sticking to it. This year's goals were way too vague and way too dependent on others (more on that to come) for me to be successful.
That said, the beauty of the digital space is that with a few clicks and an hour or so agonising over fonts, I can completely re-launch and re-purpose this blog. I've decided to take a slightly different route with this space now. I could write several posts about beauty and lifestyle that float off into the ether, but would I necessarily read similar posts from others? Probably not.
I still love beauty and makeup though, so I thought about what I search for myself. Nine times out of ten, I look for advice on my biggest problem: my pale AF skin. Every time I want to try a new foundation, concealer, contour and even blush, I have to go on the internet and hope that someone has swatched it on skin the same colour as mine. I know it's difficult to tell if you've got a pale-sister via photos on the internet, but I still find it difficult to find anyone as pale as I am while I do these searches.
Don't let the filtered photo on the sidebar fool you into thinking I have a normal skin-tone. I have grey/translucent shaded skin with blue veins that you can follow a path with in even the dimmest light. I also have a red face and freckles so makeup shopping is always super fun for me.
I'll still post regular beauty and lifestyle type pieces, but with an angle on suiting pale skin too as this is (hopefully) an area I can help with. I'm still no expert, but I've got several years of trial and error that shouldn't go to waste.
I'm going to have a think about my posting-goals for 2017 over the next couple of weeks, but I'll see you shortly either way. I hope you like the new design in the meantime - we've come a long way from the days of the pink background (thank fuck).
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Thursday, 31 December 2015
2016 New Years Resolutions
Like last year, I have a number of specific goals that I want to achieve this year and my hope is that I can be just as successful with these as I was with my goals for 2015.
2016 New Years Resolutions
1. Lose a further 3 stone by May 23rd, 2016 - this is on top of the six stone already lost and will not include any weight that I may have (okay - definitely have) put on over Christmas. To clarify, this will be a total loss of 126.2lbs and I want to have achieved this on or before May 23rd.
2. Go Home to Bermuda - Fraser and I have been planning to go back to my home country of Bermuda for a couple of years now and I would like to commit to going back in 2016, ideally at the end of May and on completion of my weight loss goals
3. Visit a Mortgage Advisor - Fraser and I also have big dreams to buy a home next year. I don't want to make that a goal since finding the right home and exchanging on that home will take time and will be out of my control. However, I would like it if we could take the first step and visit a mortgage advisor to get an agreement in principle if possible, or understand the areas we need to work on to make that happen.
4. Save a further £3,000 - Some of my savings will be spent on Bermuda but I would like to continue my good budget habits by committing to a further saving of £3,000 in 2016.
The list isn't as extensive as last year's but I hope to continue some of the habits that I've developed this year (drinking water more, reading books) without having to set specific goals for them. I hope that this time next year, I am able to report success against these goals too and look forward to all the challenges and good memories that 2016 will bring me.
Tabitha
Xx
2016 New Years Resolutions
1. Lose a further 3 stone by May 23rd, 2016 - this is on top of the six stone already lost and will not include any weight that I may have (okay - definitely have) put on over Christmas. To clarify, this will be a total loss of 126.2lbs and I want to have achieved this on or before May 23rd.
2. Go Home to Bermuda - Fraser and I have been planning to go back to my home country of Bermuda for a couple of years now and I would like to commit to going back in 2016, ideally at the end of May and on completion of my weight loss goals
3. Visit a Mortgage Advisor - Fraser and I also have big dreams to buy a home next year. I don't want to make that a goal since finding the right home and exchanging on that home will take time and will be out of my control. However, I would like it if we could take the first step and visit a mortgage advisor to get an agreement in principle if possible, or understand the areas we need to work on to make that happen.
4. Save a further £3,000 - Some of my savings will be spent on Bermuda but I would like to continue my good budget habits by committing to a further saving of £3,000 in 2016.
The list isn't as extensive as last year's but I hope to continue some of the habits that I've developed this year (drinking water more, reading books) without having to set specific goals for them. I hope that this time next year, I am able to report success against these goals too and look forward to all the challenges and good memories that 2016 will bring me.
Tabitha
Xx
How To Keep New Years Resolutions
They're something we make every year and are quite often broken by the time we hit February. In fact, an article from Forbes suggests that just 8% of people keep their New Years Resolutions and manage to achieve them. It's easy to scream out "New Year, New Me" on January 1st but the real work has to start then too alongside an honest dedication to your goals.
Long term followers of my blog (hi, Mum) will know that I set myself some pretty specific 2015 New Years Resolutions this time last year and I'm delighted to confirm that I kept and achieved all six of these goals. You can read more about my progress on these in this post from Tuesday. I truly believe that the only reason I was successful with these resolutions versus every other year I've made them is because I was so specific with the goals. They weren't vague like my 2014 resolutions or easy to procrastinate on. They were very specific as well as published on a publicly available domain too. This meant there was an element of pride attached to achieving these as no-one likes to publicly fail.
The Forbes article from above agrees with this sentiment, stating that New Years Resolutions should be 'tangible'. There has to be a way to measure it. If it's to lose weight, you need to commit to losing a certain amount and measure this through a scale. If it's to fit into a smaller size of clothing, be specific with how small that size should be and measure this with a tape measure and some kind of log. All six of my resolutions were designed to be very specific. I turned "drink more water" into "drink at least 2L of water a day" for example.
These resolutions have to be achievable too, which means being realistic with yourself. I could have set myself an ambitious goal of 10 blog posts a month, but that would only have set me up for failure. If I fail at something, I know its very easy for me to throw in the towel on all of it so setting realistic/achievable goals was very important to me.
Finally, I think the biggest help in sticking to these goals was to regularly check in with myself. At the end of each month, I would check myself and my progress against the goals I had set. I'd look at my weight records, my savings etc and review the progress I'd made with these as well as my daily water/reading goals too. If I could see room for improvement, it was a lot easier to pick up the slack at the end of each month rather than trying to do a rush job in November. It's a lot like keeping on top of doing the dishes each day. If you do them on the day, it takes 10 minutes vs a half hour job if you leave them for a few days. Just be honest with yourself and your progress along the way and it's easy to keep up with your goals.
I hope that this post helps some of you when it comes to setting your goals for the new year. I'll have a separate post going up today with my 2016 goals. In the meantime, I recommend this motivational video to inspire you when you need it:
Have a wonderful and fortune filled 2016 <3
Tabitha
Xx
Long term followers of my blog (hi, Mum) will know that I set myself some pretty specific 2015 New Years Resolutions this time last year and I'm delighted to confirm that I kept and achieved all six of these goals. You can read more about my progress on these in this post from Tuesday. I truly believe that the only reason I was successful with these resolutions versus every other year I've made them is because I was so specific with the goals. They weren't vague like my 2014 resolutions or easy to procrastinate on. They were very specific as well as published on a publicly available domain too. This meant there was an element of pride attached to achieving these as no-one likes to publicly fail.
The Forbes article from above agrees with this sentiment, stating that New Years Resolutions should be 'tangible'. There has to be a way to measure it. If it's to lose weight, you need to commit to losing a certain amount and measure this through a scale. If it's to fit into a smaller size of clothing, be specific with how small that size should be and measure this with a tape measure and some kind of log. All six of my resolutions were designed to be very specific. I turned "drink more water" into "drink at least 2L of water a day" for example.
These resolutions have to be achievable too, which means being realistic with yourself. I could have set myself an ambitious goal of 10 blog posts a month, but that would only have set me up for failure. If I fail at something, I know its very easy for me to throw in the towel on all of it so setting realistic/achievable goals was very important to me.
Finally, I think the biggest help in sticking to these goals was to regularly check in with myself. At the end of each month, I would check myself and my progress against the goals I had set. I'd look at my weight records, my savings etc and review the progress I'd made with these as well as my daily water/reading goals too. If I could see room for improvement, it was a lot easier to pick up the slack at the end of each month rather than trying to do a rush job in November. It's a lot like keeping on top of doing the dishes each day. If you do them on the day, it takes 10 minutes vs a half hour job if you leave them for a few days. Just be honest with yourself and your progress along the way and it's easy to keep up with your goals.
I hope that this post helps some of you when it comes to setting your goals for the new year. I'll have a separate post going up today with my 2016 goals. In the meantime, I recommend this motivational video to inspire you when you need it:
Have a wonderful and fortune filled 2016 <3
Tabitha
Xx
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
2015 New Years Resolutions: My Results
At the end of 2014, I set myself some very specific goals for this year and I am delighted to confirm today that every single one of these goals has been achieved and surpassed in some cases. It's been a fantastic year as a result and one I'm proud of too. The full post about these goals is here but in summary, I had the following goals:
2015 New Years Resolutions
1. Read 10 books
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
3. Fully pay off overdraft
4. Lose 6 stone
5. Have a dental check-up
6. Drink at least 2L of water a day
1. Read 10 books
I'll admit that I slacked on this one a little bit until about halfway through the year where I learned to utilise my lunch hour for reading rather than binge watch Netflix. However, I managed to achieve this one in the end and have a post coming out tomorrow with a short review of each book read. This goal felt second nature for me in the end because I really do love to read, it was just a matter of making this more of a priority.
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
This one was a struggle. Again, it was about making it a priority but I found that I ended up writing all four posts in one day with them all releasing towards the last few days of the month. It was an ambitious goal but one I'm proud that I kept. I can still say that almost no-one actually reads this blog but it felt really good to do a bit of writing and force myself to make time for it too.
3. Fully pay off overdraft
I'm going to say that this is definitely one of my achievements that I'm most proud of. It was difficult to do but I have not only managed to clear the £2,000 of debt I was in through my overdraft but actually put away savings in excess of that amount too. I scrimped like a trooper of course, but most of this came down to being very fortunate with overtime hours at work. In fact, since January of this year, I have been starting at 07:00 every morning right the way through to my last week before Christmas break. This included at least one five hour Saturday shift a month. This meant an extra 10 to 15 hours a week at work which definitely made a difference in my ability to save as well as the quality of my work too. Win-win all round!
4. Lose 6 stone
I did it! On 22nd of November this year, I got down to my lowest weight and a total of 84.4lbs lost which is the equivalent of 6 stone (84lbs or 38kg). I managed this through the simple act of calorie counting using the MyFitnessPal app. It's a free app that I believe most people have heard of or used before, but it just makes keeping track of my food and drink so easy that it became second nature. I've still got a few more stone to go until I reach my goal weight but this 6 stone chunk has been such a massive chunk off that I'm well on my way to this goal.
5. Have a dental check-up
I actually felt a bit ridiculous once I'd had this check-up. I can't imagine why it was such a big deal or why I put it off for so long. I'm not scared of dentists (well, not that much) nor was I worried about the cost. Again, I think it was a case of making it a priority which is something this resolution forced me to do. So in May, I called up my local dentist's office, got myself registered and went to see the dentist. I needed one filling and had my teeth polished to perfection by the lovely dentist there. In November, I saw her again for another polish. I intend to keep going every six months as recommended and feel that I've set up a new healthy habit that is easy to keep.
6. Drink at least 2L of water a day
I actually bossed this one. I've never been more hydrated in my life and I feel so much better for it. I've got a little cup at work that I was getting through several times a day. I tried to stick to plain water where possible. However, I found this sugar-free 2-calorie squash in Aldi that doubled my water intake because it was so delicious in November. I'm fairly confident I've been doing 3 or 4 litres a day easily, particularly as I found I was less hungry the more hydrated I was and it was therefore easier to stick to my calorie goals too.
All in all, it has been a very productive and very rewarding 2015. I definitely feel like having specific goals really helped me keep my resolutions and I'm genuinely so pleased with myself. I've had a tremendous year and I'm grateful to everyone that supported me with these goals.
Tabitha
Xx
2015 New Years Resolutions
1. Read 10 books
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
3. Fully pay off overdraft
4. Lose 6 stone
5. Have a dental check-up
6. Drink at least 2L of water a day
1. Read 10 books
I'll admit that I slacked on this one a little bit until about halfway through the year where I learned to utilise my lunch hour for reading rather than binge watch Netflix. However, I managed to achieve this one in the end and have a post coming out tomorrow with a short review of each book read. This goal felt second nature for me in the end because I really do love to read, it was just a matter of making this more of a priority.
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
This one was a struggle. Again, it was about making it a priority but I found that I ended up writing all four posts in one day with them all releasing towards the last few days of the month. It was an ambitious goal but one I'm proud that I kept. I can still say that almost no-one actually reads this blog but it felt really good to do a bit of writing and force myself to make time for it too.
3. Fully pay off overdraft
I'm going to say that this is definitely one of my achievements that I'm most proud of. It was difficult to do but I have not only managed to clear the £2,000 of debt I was in through my overdraft but actually put away savings in excess of that amount too. I scrimped like a trooper of course, but most of this came down to being very fortunate with overtime hours at work. In fact, since January of this year, I have been starting at 07:00 every morning right the way through to my last week before Christmas break. This included at least one five hour Saturday shift a month. This meant an extra 10 to 15 hours a week at work which definitely made a difference in my ability to save as well as the quality of my work too. Win-win all round!
4. Lose 6 stone
I did it! On 22nd of November this year, I got down to my lowest weight and a total of 84.4lbs lost which is the equivalent of 6 stone (84lbs or 38kg). I managed this through the simple act of calorie counting using the MyFitnessPal app. It's a free app that I believe most people have heard of or used before, but it just makes keeping track of my food and drink so easy that it became second nature. I've still got a few more stone to go until I reach my goal weight but this 6 stone chunk has been such a massive chunk off that I'm well on my way to this goal.
5. Have a dental check-up
I actually felt a bit ridiculous once I'd had this check-up. I can't imagine why it was such a big deal or why I put it off for so long. I'm not scared of dentists (well, not that much) nor was I worried about the cost. Again, I think it was a case of making it a priority which is something this resolution forced me to do. So in May, I called up my local dentist's office, got myself registered and went to see the dentist. I needed one filling and had my teeth polished to perfection by the lovely dentist there. In November, I saw her again for another polish. I intend to keep going every six months as recommended and feel that I've set up a new healthy habit that is easy to keep.
6. Drink at least 2L of water a day
I actually bossed this one. I've never been more hydrated in my life and I feel so much better for it. I've got a little cup at work that I was getting through several times a day. I tried to stick to plain water where possible. However, I found this sugar-free 2-calorie squash in Aldi that doubled my water intake because it was so delicious in November. I'm fairly confident I've been doing 3 or 4 litres a day easily, particularly as I found I was less hungry the more hydrated I was and it was therefore easier to stick to my calorie goals too.
All in all, it has been a very productive and very rewarding 2015. I definitely feel like having specific goals really helped me keep my resolutions and I'm genuinely so pleased with myself. I've had a tremendous year and I'm grateful to everyone that supported me with these goals.
Tabitha
Xx
Monday, 27 April 2015
London | Science Museum, Natural History Museum and War Horse
This isn't my usual style of post but I had such an amazing time that I thought I would document it.
I am only 25 minutes away from London by train and yet so rarely venture into our nation's capital that it should be criminal. There's so much to see and do in the city but I always forget my love for London until I'm there. Don't get me wrong, I would despise living there or having to do that commute every day. For a big day out, though, London is perfect.
It was recently my 24th birthday so my boyfriend and I went into London for the day to celebrate in style. He asked me what I wanted, and since I couldn't think of any 'thing' he could buy me, I suggested we go and experience something together. We decided to see a play and the whole day out grew from there.
We started with an early morning and a quick stop at Starbucks for breakfast before the train. It was a weekday so we tried to leave after the commuter traffic but before the tourist traffic. I think we hit the sweet spot since we did manage to get a seat on the train (albeit the ones next to the toilets).
We started at the Science Museum and were there just before the doors opened so one of the first ones in. I've been before but only really quickly on a way to an exhibition hosted there so this was the first time I'd have the chance to explore it properly. Fraser is science minded so I knew we'd enjoy ourselves.
It was a bloody massive museum. It took us 4 hours to get round the whole thing and we skimmed past a lot of the exhibitions. I reckon you could easily lose an entire day there. My favourite section was the part about human genealogy and also the section about Space.
In between the exploring, we had lunch at the museum diner. It was actually amazing! I got the burger with bacon and cheese which I polished off nicely. Frase got the fish and chips which he said was the best fish and chips he's ever had. So there's a compliment!
We finished our tour with a visit to the gift shop where we picked up some space food. It was surprisingly delicious! Dehydrated ice cream is definitely something I could get used to if I had to.
After the Science Museum we took a very quick trip to the Natural History Museum which is right next door. We didn't have time to do the whole thing so we just visited my favourite exhibitions. The Natural History Museum in London is one of my favourite places in the world. I used to visit every few months in my late teens so I know my way round.
All in all, it was an amazing day out and a massive thank you to my lovely Frase for treating me all day :-) We've both said that we should definitely take more advantage of our proximity to London on a regular basis so hopefully there's more to come. I think we'll probably check out the V&A next if we can.
Have you got any favourite places in London that I should visit? Any tucked away restaurant/cafe suggestions perhaps?
Tabitha
Xx
I am only 25 minutes away from London by train and yet so rarely venture into our nation's capital that it should be criminal. There's so much to see and do in the city but I always forget my love for London until I'm there. Don't get me wrong, I would despise living there or having to do that commute every day. For a big day out, though, London is perfect.
It was recently my 24th birthday so my boyfriend and I went into London for the day to celebrate in style. He asked me what I wanted, and since I couldn't think of any 'thing' he could buy me, I suggested we go and experience something together. We decided to see a play and the whole day out grew from there.
We started with an early morning and a quick stop at Starbucks for breakfast before the train. It was a weekday so we tried to leave after the commuter traffic but before the tourist traffic. I think we hit the sweet spot since we did manage to get a seat on the train (albeit the ones next to the toilets).
We started at the Science Museum and were there just before the doors opened so one of the first ones in. I've been before but only really quickly on a way to an exhibition hosted there so this was the first time I'd have the chance to explore it properly. Fraser is science minded so I knew we'd enjoy ourselves.
It was a bloody massive museum. It took us 4 hours to get round the whole thing and we skimmed past a lot of the exhibitions. I reckon you could easily lose an entire day there. My favourite section was the part about human genealogy and also the section about Space.
In between the exploring, we had lunch at the museum diner. It was actually amazing! I got the burger with bacon and cheese which I polished off nicely. Frase got the fish and chips which he said was the best fish and chips he's ever had. So there's a compliment!
We finished our tour with a visit to the gift shop where we picked up some space food. It was surprisingly delicious! Dehydrated ice cream is definitely something I could get used to if I had to.
After the Science Museum we took a very quick trip to the Natural History Museum which is right next door. We didn't have time to do the whole thing so we just visited my favourite exhibitions. The Natural History Museum in London is one of my favourite places in the world. I used to visit every few months in my late teens so I know my way round.
We visited the Earthquakes & Volcano section, the Earth since time began bit, the Jewel part and tried to get a visit to the Dinosaurs in but the queue for the T-Rex robot was too long so we couldn't actually get in. It was a flying visit all in all but we still saw loads.
After that we head to Covent Garden to wonder round the shops and watch a few street performers before our dinner reservation. We went to one of my favourite restaurants in London for dinner - Fire & Stone in Covent Garden. They do the most amazing pizzas there which we had alongside cocktails and a calamari starter. Dessert was cinnamon sugar donut sticks with warm toffee and chocolate dipping sauce. We shared between us because we were that full, but on an emptier stomach I can see myself finishing the whole thing on my own.
After dinner we had a nice 15 minute walk to the theatre which was well needed after all the food we'd consumed. We decided to see War Horse at the New London Theatre and OMG... I don't know how I can ever do it justice with words.
It was PHENOMENAL. The audience was out of their seats for a standing ovation at the end. There's no photography allowed so I couldn't get any snaps. However, we were in the third row in the centre so had an incredible view. The actors were all incredible and the puppetry with the horses took my breath away. I was bawling by the end and so moved. Definitely the highlight of the day!
We got the train home after that. It was 11pm so only the slow trains left. It was a struggle not to fall asleep right there. I'd been wearing my FitBit so I know we ended up doing 19k steps and covered nearly 9 miles distance by the end of it. We definitely earned our pizza dinner by the end of it!
Have you got any favourite places in London that I should visit? Any tucked away restaurant/cafe suggestions perhaps?
Tabitha
Xx
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Busy Busy Busy!
It feels like it's been a long and hectic month with lots of social occasions and more overtime hours at work than I can shake a stick at.
Keeping busy is good for me, especially in a long and grey month like January. That said, I am promising myself a full weekend of lazing about next weekend and just doing all the things I like to do best: sleeping, watching Netflix and drinking tea :-)
Life Update:
- Closing the month with 12.6lbs lost so far. Hoping for the last 1.4lb by Saturday the 31st so that I've lost a stone in a month!
- Reading The Help and trying to make time for it though I can definitely improve!
- Acheived my goal of four posts this month with this last post
- Working lots of overtime this month to put towards paying off my overdraft
Oh, and I bought myself a very fancy new scale:
So shiny!
I hope you had a lovely January :-)
Tabitha
Xx
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
2015 New Year Resolutions
It's that time of year again when people start to think of their New Year's resolutions and begin asking you what yours are. I made some pretty firm promises to myself at the start of 2014 and I'm pleased to say that I achieved everything on my resolution list in one way or another.
This could partly be due to the fact that my 2014 resolutions were so vague it would be nearly impossible to fail. But mostly I like to believe that I succeeded because they were resolutions that I really wanted to keep.
2014 New Year Resolutions
1. Read More - Vague, I know. But I did manage to achieve this one. I went from a tragic one novel read in 2013 to a much more respectful novel-a-fortnight in 2014. This slipped somewhat after I changed jobs and didn't have my daily commute anymore. But I'm pleased to say that I re-discovered my passion for reading and have continued to read on a semi-regular basis
2. Write More - Another vague statement. However, with a lack of brilliant novel ideas and no inspiration to even so much as spit out a poem, this one was difficult. I decided to focus more time on this blog and I'm pleased to say that I've succeeded. I still haven't written nearly as many posts as I had originally imagined but I have certainly made more of an effort with this blog and it's forming into something I can be quite proud of.
3. Get a Permanent Job - Achieved twice this year. After a couple of years as a temporary member of staff, holding a permanent job is a relief. I feel a lot more secure and I'm being paid far better.
4. Pay Off Overdraft - I failed to achieve this one. I just couldn't afford to for the first 8 months of the year on my low salary around trying to support myself too. However, in this new role, I finally have money to spare that I can use to start paying it off. I put a savings plan and a new budget in place and I'm on my way to paying it off by this time next year
5. Lose Weight - Deliberately vague, but I managed to achieve this. At my peak, I'd managed to lose 38lbs from this time last year and was well chuffed with myself. With the festive season and a miserable winter in general, I know some of this has come back. However, I know that I can lose weight now and I've had an education this last year on how to do it too. I''m going into 2015 with big plans to continue on the weight loss/fitness path and achieve my goals.
So, with a day and a half until the new year, I've been giving a lot of thought to what my goals will be for this next year. I know that I can achieve the goals that I set myself now. I have confidence in my ability to do so. However, this year I want to be stricter with myself and a lot less vague. I hope that by this time next year, I can proudly say that I've achieved these goals too.
2015 New Year Resolutions
1. Read 10 books
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
3. Fully pay off overdraft
4. Lose 6 stone
5. Have a dental check-up
6. Drink at least 2L water a day
Had you asked me at this time last year where I'd have ended up now, I probably couldn't have guessed. Even now, I can't predict what will happen across this next year but if the last one is anything to go by then I'm going to learn a lot of lessons.
I know that it's unlikely anyone cares about the post above and that it's kind of like someone telling you about the dream they had last night (f*cking dull) but writing my resolutions down and making a commitment to them really helped me last year so I'm doing the same this year.
Good Luck with any of your own resolutions and I hope 2015 will be an incredible year for all of us!
Tabitha
X
This could partly be due to the fact that my 2014 resolutions were so vague it would be nearly impossible to fail. But mostly I like to believe that I succeeded because they were resolutions that I really wanted to keep.
2014 New Year Resolutions
1. Read More - Vague, I know. But I did manage to achieve this one. I went from a tragic one novel read in 2013 to a much more respectful novel-a-fortnight in 2014. This slipped somewhat after I changed jobs and didn't have my daily commute anymore. But I'm pleased to say that I re-discovered my passion for reading and have continued to read on a semi-regular basis
2. Write More - Another vague statement. However, with a lack of brilliant novel ideas and no inspiration to even so much as spit out a poem, this one was difficult. I decided to focus more time on this blog and I'm pleased to say that I've succeeded. I still haven't written nearly as many posts as I had originally imagined but I have certainly made more of an effort with this blog and it's forming into something I can be quite proud of.
3. Get a Permanent Job - Achieved twice this year. After a couple of years as a temporary member of staff, holding a permanent job is a relief. I feel a lot more secure and I'm being paid far better.
4. Pay Off Overdraft - I failed to achieve this one. I just couldn't afford to for the first 8 months of the year on my low salary around trying to support myself too. However, in this new role, I finally have money to spare that I can use to start paying it off. I put a savings plan and a new budget in place and I'm on my way to paying it off by this time next year
5. Lose Weight - Deliberately vague, but I managed to achieve this. At my peak, I'd managed to lose 38lbs from this time last year and was well chuffed with myself. With the festive season and a miserable winter in general, I know some of this has come back. However, I know that I can lose weight now and I've had an education this last year on how to do it too. I''m going into 2015 with big plans to continue on the weight loss/fitness path and achieve my goals.
So, with a day and a half until the new year, I've been giving a lot of thought to what my goals will be for this next year. I know that I can achieve the goals that I set myself now. I have confidence in my ability to do so. However, this year I want to be stricter with myself and a lot less vague. I hope that by this time next year, I can proudly say that I've achieved these goals too.
2015 New Year Resolutions
1. Read 10 books
2. Update the blog 4 times a month
3. Fully pay off overdraft
4. Lose 6 stone
5. Have a dental check-up
6. Drink at least 2L water a day
Had you asked me at this time last year where I'd have ended up now, I probably couldn't have guessed. Even now, I can't predict what will happen across this next year but if the last one is anything to go by then I'm going to learn a lot of lessons.
I know that it's unlikely anyone cares about the post above and that it's kind of like someone telling you about the dream they had last night (f*cking dull) but writing my resolutions down and making a commitment to them really helped me last year so I'm doing the same this year.
Good Luck with any of your own resolutions and I hope 2015 will be an incredible year for all of us!
Tabitha
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