Goals: Reflecting on October and November and What I’m Planning for Next Year.

I don’t want to be a cliche but how fast has this year flown by?! I can’t believe it’s the end of the year and it’s my favourite time for two reasons. I get to celebrate Christmas which is my favourite holiday and I get to reassess what I’ll be doing differently for not only the next year, but into a new decade. In this post, I’ll be discussing my goals for the last two months and how they went.

Organise the spare room.

Scott is quite the star, I don’t say it enough but he is. He noticed that the room had become overwhelming for me and he helped out massively by moving most of the units around so the place didn’t look so cluttered. Towards the end of November, we moved most of the boxes out of the room that I didn’t need for the next month or so, and those were either put up in the roofspace or in the bedroom cupboards. It

Make time for more walks.

I completely SMASHED this in October because my boyfriend and my brother were taking part in a Sober October challenge with added steps, which meant they had to try and get the most steps throughout the month. It gave us a really good reason to go for a walk before or after work, and I started walking to the garage during lunch rather than driving up. I tripled my step count over the month of October compared the steps in September, and while I didn’t actively try and walk all the time in November like we did in October, I still think I did amazing for making more time for more walks, and I hope to continue it, but just not in such an intense way moving forward.

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Again, another goal setting exercise with one out of two. Technically, it’s two out of two but because the spare room isn’t as organised as I had planned in October, I’ll not mark that off my list. November was definitely a more chill month and I think it was much needed because I’m now focused on December and the New Year to get exercising and walking more regularly.

Looking back; last year I tried three goals every three months and this year I tried two goals every two months. Personally, two goals over two months has been much more beneficial for me because in hindsight, three goals was too much. I was so goal oriented that I took it a step closer and I think that’s perfectly okay; I’ve learned what is best for me and that’s what goal setting is all about at the end of the day.

Now, as we’re coming up to the New Year, that will of course be the time where I’m going to be focusing on goals for the next quarter and the next twelve months overall. I haven’t exactly planned it out yet but I’ll be posting about it very soon as I always do. I’ll be continuing with my Continue, Stop and Start plan that I began last year (which you can read the first one and the second one right here) because that was a really great way for me to lay out my good habits, my bad habits and what I wanted to do more. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to focus on one big goal or smaller goals over a certain amount of months but that decision will depend on what I want to do, and I’m excited to explore that over the Christmas holiday period.

As always, thank you so much for reading, I do appreciate it because there are so many other blogs or articles you could read, so thank you. If you have any comments or any blog posts that you think I should read in relation to what I have posted today; you can either leave it in the comments below, send me a tweet over on my Twitter or let me know on my Instagram. Have a great week!

Stress Less Around The Christmas Season.

When we think about it; if it was any other time of the year and we were panicking about getting someone a gift or spending time with a friend, we would say to each other, “it’s only one day!” but when it comes to Christmas, the majority of us go into meltdown mode to make sure it’s the perfect time of the year. I wanted to discuss four pieces of advice that I tell myself if I start panicking about the holiday season.

1. Having the perfect wrapping paper is not the most important part of the gift.

Listen, this used to be me. I had to have the prettiest wrapping paper and it all had to be the same type. I would get the matching tags and I would have to go back to the supermarket numerous times because I was always running out. If it was colourful, I was in but if it was covered in glitter, I HAD to have it. If we actually think about it for one minute; that wrapping paper is going to be admired for maximum 30 seconds and ripped apart (unless you are Monica, then you slowly unwrap it and iron it for later, but how many of us are doing that with each gift?). That’s it, that’s all that happens and it more than likely ends up in a bin at the end of the day. All that extra money on the glitter, the colourful pattern, it’s going in the bin and because the majority of that type of paper isn’t recycled, it’s just going to sit for years unable to decompose. 

I’m not trying to guilt anyone, I promise I’m not, but once you really think about where that wrapping paper is going and what it’s being used for, something just clicks. It clicks that we don’t need to be really fancy; last year I used brown wrapping paper and I used regular string and it gave the present a minimalist feel. This year, I’m going to add ribbon to the present instead and that means that the paper will be recyclable, the tape I use is also recyclable and the receivers can use the ribbons afterwards if they want. This doesn’t apply to only Christmas, this is all year round and it means that you won’t have to rush round the shops looking for fancy birthday paper because you’ll have left over brown paper from Christmas and maybe a ribbon or two.

2) If you can’t attend every single event, people WILL understand.

Christmas and December in general in expensive; it’s the busiest time of the year and we want to gift our friends and family with presents that they will love. That comes at a cost and you still have to pay all your regular bills, so going out for a few nights over the month for dinner would be absolutely fine any other time of the year but around December, it’s a little harder and it can be hard to admit that to friends and family. You may want to go out and still catch-up over your monthly pizza night or have that weekly pub night, but if you can’t afford to or you have family plans, the people around you will understand. It’s a busy time of the time and you’re having to balance everything you would normally do as well as planning your Christmas and scheduling your family time around your work schedule (and your own family’s schedule). A catch up over a coffee on your lunch break can be just as effective or inviting a friend over for a home cooked meal can be just as comforting. These are things we should be doing all year around but I believe it’s so important to emphasize that if you can’t go out as often as you used to or you feel like you’ve committed to so many events, it’s okay if you can’t go to everything, and those that truly care about you will one hundred percent understand.

3) Quality over quantity is more important.

This has been a really important part of my Christmas gifting experience especially over the last few years and with my on-going journey with minimalism (or at least my very very slow journey with minimalism) I treat my present buying the way I want to be treated with gift giving. As much as fifty presents would love on the sofa on the morning of Christmas, am I going to get around to use all fifty? I absolutely love surprises and I love surprising people especially with gifts, and I believe the reason why I’m so good at gifts is because I do research. One of my favourite things to do throughout school and college was the research part of an assignment and it has stayed with me. Of course, if you ask someone what they want and they tell you; well you have hit the jackpot and you know exactly what they want, but we all have those people in our lives that we ask what they want for Christmas and they either say “Oh nothing, I don’t need anything” or “I don’t know, I’ll let you know” and they never let you know.

(Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels)

I would rather buy fewer presents that I either know the person will love or is higher quality than buying five smaller presents. I think this is something that parents deal with quite a lot and especially now that almost everything is documented on social media; the living room is covered in presents or there was one woman a few years ago I remember being interviewed on TV who bought her children something outrageous like three hundred presents! I can’t imagine what it’s like as a parent because I’m not one yet but I can imagine that you want to give your children the most magical Christmas. You want them to go back to school and tell them about the amazing time they had when they were off on holidays and you want them to fit in with all their friends. Where does it stop though? Do you get yourself in debt over it? Do you push yourself so far that it means the first half of the year you’re struggling to get back on track over ONE DAY? Children might not understand the quality of a gift but I believe if it’s taught to them at a young age, they will appreciate it so much more. (I’m saying this as a non-parent but this is how I want to raise my future children. At least I have a plan right?)

4) At the end of the day, it’s ONE DAY.

Is it worth it to completely stress, stretch your budget to harm you for the next year coming and make everything perfect for ONE DAY out of the year? I can give you the answer right now and I can tell you it’s a firm no. We have another 364 days to buy gifts for each other, to show each other how we feel and show our appreciation for one another; the pressure for this one day has completely taken over on an entire new level and instead of looking forward to Christmas, it’s sad that so many don’t love the build up and the excitement of it all because all they see is the pressure to be perfect. 

As always, thank you so much for reading today’s post, I know it was a long one but it’s always a good excuse to make a cup of tea beforehand, right? If you have any feedback; please let me know in the comments, over on my Instagram or over on my Twitter. Also, I love Christmas themed posts, so if you have one that you think I would enjoy, let me know! Have a great week! ❤️

Bumble BFF: My Experience Of Making New Friends Online.

Making new friends as an adult is hard because it’s really through friends of friends, your job or your hobbies. It’s not as easy as it is in school which is why I want to talk about Bumble BFF today, what my experience has been like so far and why I have zero shame when wanting to make new friendships.

If you’re on the dating scene, you will have probably heard of Bumble, a lot of people liken it to an alternative version of Tinder where you swipe left and right on someone based on their profile and their appearance. Now, for the longest time, females especially have been wanting an app where they can make friends in their local area, because we all know that making friends as adults is hard! And wah-la, we now have it! It’s called Bumble BFF and does exactly what it says on the tin.

When I first mentioned it to people, especially my boyfriend and my co-workers, they didn’t really know what to think about it. They thought it was pretty odd but I still wanted to find out more about it, so I kept going with it. Having used dating apps in the past, it was a little odd because it felt like dating; judging someone’s profile, asking them about their interests, seeing if you vibe with them; admittedly it’s weird doing that while you’re sitting with your boyfriend. He knew it was innocent though and was interested to see who I was talking to.

I’m a shy person but I feel like I can be myself when I’m not face-to-face so talking over an app worked so much better in my favour. I don’t have a lot of friends and the friends I do have, they don’t intertwine so in almost every instance, it’s a one-on-one catch-up rather than a big group. Thinking back to secondary school, I was in a big group of friends throughout most of my high school years and unless you were loud, you never really got a word in, so I’ve always felt intimidated by larger groups. I don’t like being the centre of attention either (it’s the ONE thing I’m dreading about getting married!) so having a group of people paying attention to me is much more intimidating than a one-on-one conversation. I feel like I have been getting better at engaging in conversations and really listening to people when they’re telling stories, but that developed back in my old job when that’s where the real answers to questions came from.

(Photo by Karol Wiśniewski from Pexels)

This is going to sound weird but judging someone from the first look of their profile, I don’t mind that and I’ll tell you why! When I was on Tinder a few years ago, I had a few tell-tale signs that I would use to know if I was going to swipe “no” for someone. If they had their snapchat name (that was the biggest no no!), if they used a really silly or sexual pun (no thanks hun!) or if they only used all group photographs. The whole group photographs gave me a sign that they weren’t independent and while that might not be true for everyone, that’s the impression I had. It’s the same for Bumble BFF and while it’s not a dating app, you can use the same tricks essentially to see if you would be a good fit. I’ll give a few examples; I’m not a drinker so I’m not going to fit well with someone who is looking to find more friends to go on a night out with. If someone is a huge Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings fan and wants someone to talk about that for hours, I know I’m not going to be that person. I’m not saying you should judge everyone because that’s just the front cover and you don’t know about the person in the pages, but I personally think the majority of the time, you can tell when you’re going to vibe with someone and when you’re not.

There have been the odd couple of women who haven’t been as positive as the rest, but that’s expected on any type of app, it’s not just men that act strange when they’re talking to strangers. I had one woman who kept asking me quite a few times was I okay talking to a lesbian, and even though I said of course I was, the conversation got a little stranger each time. It eventually ended when I asked if she was interested in fashion and she said she would love if she could pick an outfit for me, underwear to jacket. That was one of the main signs that it was time to stop talking. That’s VERY personal and too sexualised for someone you have been talking to for less than twenty four hours.

(Photo by gagan from Pexels)

One of the great features of Bumble BFF is, if anyone is being rude or trying to use the app to date, you can report them very easily and you can move on but the majority of the time, everyone has been lovely. You’ll get quite a few people who you will talk to for a while, and they’ll disappear from the app and you didn’t manage to get their number to keep chatting on What’s App or any other social media. I’ve had it happen to me a few times and I’ve been disappointed because I would have loved to meet up with them, but there’s not much you can do unless they come back on the app. It’s a lesson learned, suggest a meet-up sooner rather than later!

I’ve met some really lovely women on the app, and quite a few I still meet up with now. We’ve been out for dinner, meet up for a coffee and even had after work drinks. We text almost every day and while it’s all well and good chatting for ages but the whole point of friendship is making sure you keep on top of it all, it’s a two-way street at the end of the day. Making sure you check in even if it’s every once in a while or meeting up for a coffee or dinner, it can really help build a friendship further. 

(Photo by Pixabay from Pexels)

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to build your friendship circle. I have zero shame in signing up for an app to find more friends, that’s not embarrassing to me so if you have any worries about that, there’s nothing wrong with trying to improve yourself and by building more friendships, you are building yourself up. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone, no matter what age you are, because you can set the settings the way you want. You can adjust the age range, what religion you are, what your core interests are, if you have children; it’s all in the app so you can find the right person or the right people for you.

Have you had any experience in the Bumble BFF app? Let me know in the comments below, on my Instagram or on my Twitter. Thank you so much for reading today’s post, I really do appreciate it and if you didn’t know a lot (or anything) about Bumble BFF, I hope I have given you a little more insight. Have a great day!

Can I Still Talk About My Weightloss Issues?

In today’s world, online and offline, talking about our bodies is such a sensitive subject because we are opening up a lot more about our insecurities but trying at the same time, to show the world that while we have flaws, we’re totally okay with them. There is criticism from all sides; I feel like you’re looked down upon for wanting to lose weight and you’re also told to embrace all your body shape no matter what shape you are and in turn, we’re criticized for not taking care of ourselves. What if you knew that you weren’t happy and you knew you needed to change? That’s what I want to discuss in today’s blog post and before we get started; this is about me and my body image, and all the little issues that I have with myself. This isn’t a reflection on anyone but me. 

Disclaimer: I’ve been pretty hesitant to talk about weight loss online because I know so many people can be affected by this topic. There are so many that are affected by eating disorders and body dysmorphia and if you feel like you can’t read about weight loss, I would recommend clicking off this post. 

I haven’t felt comfortable about my body for about two years and over that time, I have gained about thirty pounds (or just over two stone) which for someone of my height, can make you look drastically different. Now, I’m all for making sure your mental and emotional health is in a good place before you start looking at the physical side but I believe it all coincides with each other. I’ll give you an example; I run slower because I haven’t been exercising as much and because of this, I have gained weight. When I start running again, because I’m not at my old weight, I start to get exhausted faster and can’t run as fast as I used to be. This means that mentally I feel terrible because I’m not as good as I used to be. See how it all goes around in a circle but it’s all connected to each other? I completely understand when we’re told that we are more than our bodies and I couldn’t agree more. We are our unique personalities, our hobbies, our work ethic, our relationships, our outlook on life and how we treat people. For me, my body is just as important as those other factors and while the BMI scale says I’m almost obese (but let’s just leave the BMI scale conversation for another day, because I don’t want to have a rant…) I know myself that my body isn’t on the healthy side and it’s ultimately my responsibility to take control of that, in a healthy and balanced way.

(During my Summer off work, I got out on my bike almost every day and that helped me greatly with the daily sunshine and keeping my mind off not working.)

There’s not one sole reason why I gained weight, there is a bunch of little reasons but they all add up at the end of the day. I started adding more sweet treats into my diet, my breakfasts weren’t as good as they should have been, I wasn’t taking time to meal prep for the week and I wasn’t watching what I was eating. That’s just the diet side. I wasn’t running as much, I wasn’t going to the gym as much and I was driving to work than my old commute of an hour walk everyday. That’s not even getting into the mental side of it all which had a huge toll too. My point is, there are so many reasons why we can change and why our bodies change, so I’m not expecting to change everything around all in one day. I know I’ve been known to have very unrealistic expectations but even I know that that’s pushing the boat out.

(Getting back to this is one of my main objectives and this was at one of my first official races)

I know what I need to do to lose weight and by no means it is impossible, it’s just hard taking yourself out of your comfort zone and that’s something that I have been stuck in for quite a while. I love sleeping and I often need a nap in the evening because I’m so tired; you can imagine that I would rather sleep than go to the gym, and you would be correct. I also like sweet food but if I want to take care of my body, I have to cut down on the sugar; not completely but make an effort to not eat as much as I used to. See? Those are the two biggest obstacles I have to jump over to get back on track and they aren’t difficult, it’s getting yourself in that mindset and that’s probably the most difficult part of it all. I have already started and while I’m not going to state how much weight I have lost, I have started losing weight again and I am over the moon because I’m starting to feel myself again.

Thank you so much for reading today’s post, I know it can be tough to talk about such a controversial topic like weight loss or weight in general but it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while and has taken a while to edit down. If you have any feedback for me, I’d love to hear it either down below in the comments or over on my Twitter or my Instagram. 

2019 Wasn’t My Running Year But That’s Okay.

It’s safe to say that sometimes we’re not always on our game; whether that’s for a day, a few weeks, a few months or even a year and that’s how I have felt this year with running. I want to deep dive today into why I think that is and why ultimately, it’s okay to have those moments.

I normally try and be pretty honest about my emotions because if you know me in real life, you know it’s very hard for me to hide how I feel. I have resting bitch face that can not be hidden and because I am so sensitive, that often shows itself very fast too. When it comes to most activities, I have to be careful on how I push myself. If you read one of my firsts posts about running (linked here), I talked about feeling horrible before, during and after a run because I wasn’t in the right headspace before and it was actually made worse going out for that run. I’m all for the benefits of exercise and the endorphins, and if that works for you, that’s perfect but for some of us, it doesn’t and that’s okay too. If I stress myself out too much, it tends to affect everything around me including my fitness amongst other things so I’ve learned over time that sometimes when I’m stressed, it’s like a domino effect and one of the first priorities that is affected, is my fitness.

(My first ever 10K was “dress like you’re going to a wedding” theme and running in tights and a dress was definitely something new!)

Scott and I have dropped out of a number of races this year; one was in Canada and I was devastated over it but it wasn’t a lack of training that stopped us and that’s why I don’t feel terrible about it. I had an accident the day before the day and I had really hurt myself; I described it as belly flopping the ground when I tripped walking across a road. I have never been in so much pain in all my life and it does still affect me to this day so while I hate the fact that I couldn’t run the next day, it would have been impossible.

The other races were simply due to lack of training and not running enough beforehand. We have signed up for one or two 10K’s and one 10 mile race which I actually blogged about (which is linked here) and that one was the biggest disappointment for me. I had built it up in my head but when it came down to it, I didn’t put in the work and I was left with a decision; do I try and run and potentially hurt myself or do I not run, lose the money but understand the reason why I didn’t do it. I made the right decision completely and I’m still gutted that I didn’t do it, but there will always be other races and it’s not something I want to make myself feel guilty about forever.

(Back when I set my 10K personal best at the Lisburn 10K in 2018)

2018 was such a fantastic running year for me and I couldn’t be prouder of that despite having a few iffy months emotionally so while I really don’t like the fact that I wasn’t as good this year as I was last year, that’s totally okay. If we’re really being honest, it actually gives me the drive to be even better next year. I know that we don’t have to wait until Monday or the start of the month to start our goals but I’m making an exception with this one. Sure, I’m still going to be running the rest of the year as much as I can, but the real work begins in January. I’m working towards the longer distances, my timings are going to be much faster and I’m going to set myself challenges along the way which will be as motivating as they were back in 2018.

Thank you so much for giving this post a few minutes of your time, it really means a lot to me. If you have any related content you’d like to share (because I love reading other’s running experience) please let me know either down in the comments or over on my Instagram or Twitter. Have a great week! 

Goals: Reflecting on August and September and Establishing October and November.

Another two months have been and gone already, and I honestly don’t know how it has happened. But in my usual form, we’re going to be looking back on my goals I set for August and September but also setting two new goals for October and November.

Read two books and listen to one audiobook.

I didn’t even touch an audiobook or a physical book in these last two months. This is a goal that I didn’t feel connected to at all, and this has taught me that I can’t force reading onto myself if I really don’t feel like it. 

Plan out my workouts in the gym in advance.

In September, we took on a yoga challenge for thirty days and I would say we went for around eighteen days so that meant eighteen days of travelling to the yoga studio with the majority of the time being after work. We didn’t really realise how much of a toll it would have on the rest of our exercise. We went to the gym less and we ran less too; now with that being said, we pushed ourselves with the yoga and we can both agree we are in a much better space with our bodies because of it. It’s really a Catch 22; so while we didn’t go to the gym all that much, we knew what type of yoga we would be doing and we have seen quite a difference in our progress since the beginning of the yoga. I didn’t hit my goal exactly the way I had planned but I hit it in a slightly different way, right?

One out of two isn’t bad but I’ve started to realise that putting pressure on myself for reading is something that isn’t working so I’ll keep that in mind for the future. The two goals for the next two months are more widespread than my other goals because they’re not something that I can put a number on because I also want to see how I succeed without putting specifics on it.

Organise the spare room.

As I’ve moved in with Scott, you can imagine that I basically moved everything into his spare room (and I’m not exaggerating when I say that…) so our mission over the next two months is to organise and clear the room so we can set it up as an office area for us both. It’s going to be a very hard task considering I have SO MUCH stuff but this will be the starting point to scaling down everything that I own and I know that in the end, it will be worth it (it’ll just be completely exhausting for a few weeks).

Make time for more walks.

I’ve never really been one to go out for a walk until very recently. Scott and I have started to go out for a walk in the evening after work or in the afternoon at the weekend; to get our steps up more and to spend some quality time together that isn’t in the house. It’s a nice way to break up the evening before going to bed and even if it’s raining, it’s nice to get fresh air in the evening.

For December, I’m not going to make the traditional two-month goals and since it will be the end of the year by that point, I’m going to change it up but we have two months until I have to think about that. Thank you so much for taking the time out to read today’s post, I really do appreciate it and if you have any goal-oriented posts, I’d love to read them; you can send me the links either in the comments below, on my Twitter or over on my Instagram.

The Next Chapter: Moving In With My Boyfriend.

As I put this post live, I have recently handed in my thirty day notice to my rented house as I begin to move in with my boyfriend. That’s what today’s post is about; why we decided to do it and what some of the biggest changes will be.

My boyfriend and I have been together for over two and a half years now, but even from the first year, we’ve talked quite fondly about moving in together. I met him three months after I moved into my own place so I knew I wanted to take my time and not rush the process because I wasn’t ready. I had never had my own place before so I wanted to absorb it all and be on my own, and by doing that, I would know when the right time was. We had actually originally discussed not moving in together until we were engaged but as we got further on in our relationship, it became apparent that none of us wanted to wait that long. 

We do live quite close to each other and because we spend so much time together, it made sense. While it’s not the sole reason, one of our main reasons is financial; it’s pretty clear that when two people move in together, you will save a lot of money and because we’re always wanting to save for a new holiday or to fix another room in the house up, it makes sense to put that money towards something beneficial for us rather than me spending double the amount on my rent and bills. Of course, the main reason we wanted to do this is because we love each other and we wanted to take the next step in our relationship. (Yes, okay, please puke because it’s so cute!)  It hasn’t been without a small population of people warning us about “really getting to know each other” when we’re under each others feet, and while I understand their point, I’m excited for the next step (even if it means slightly more arguments than usual, because what’s a relationship without a disagreement or two, right?).

A lot of people tend to look at the challenges when something like this, but we tend to try and find out what we need to focus on or what the biggest changes will be because as much as we’ve heard the normal challenges (Ie. moving boxes back and forth), we’re looking at it from a positive angle to set the precedent for the future: 

Doing separate activities and having date nights.

I believe it’s important for any relationship to be comfortable around each other to watch TV in silence or for one to read a book while the other plays a game but sometimes you can get a little too used to that. We all need time on our own, whether that’s simply alone time or time to spend on a hobby.  For example, I love blogging and I tend to write my best work in one of my favourite coffee shops so I normally pop over there for a few hours on my own; whereas Scott writes reviews for a film review website so he normally likes to be on his own in the living room for that while watching the film on screen. I go to Girl Guides on a Thursday and he has a second job of doing merchandising so we do have our own separate activities to make sure we’re not living on top of each other. 

What we also have to keep in mind is that we make time to go out on dates; I think because couples in long-term relationships are so used to each other’s company, especially if they live together; they tend not to go out as often and our thinking behind it, is that we know we won’t be able to do it as much when we have children, so we’re taking advantage now. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant or over-the-top but it could be a dinner and a movie night, a new sports activity that we haven’t tried yet or even seeing a comedy gig together. Because we’ll be saving money, we’ll have a little extra to splash on dates and we think it’s going to be a good opportunity to snap up while we can.

Helping Audrey adapt to her new surroundings.

This will be a quite a big challenge for my little Audrey and I’m hoping she adapts well to it all; she’ll have more places to explore, and I’m hoping that because she’ll be able to explore the house more, she won’t scratch furniture as much. She’ll get more attention in the evenings too and Scott can’t wait to share the house with her because he genuinely loves her.

Observing and improving our morning routines.

As the months have passed, I haven’t been on top of my mornings as I should be. There are days when Scott will have slept in and vice-versa so we know that when the move does happen, we’ll adjust to when we both need to get up; whether that is for the gym, a run, a morning meal prep or simply for work. It might take a few days or even a few weeks but once we get into the rhythm of it, we’ll be pretty set, you know? Hopefully with the adjustment, we’ll be able to grasp better routines along the way too.

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Of course, there will be the usual things that moving boxes and furniture to his house, trying to find a place for everything, dumping or donating anything I don’t need or want any more, and changing my address over for EVERYTHING but the three things above are something I want to truly focus on. The packing is important but it’s happening no matter what, the changing addresses will happen over time once I get a change but making sure Audrey is okay in her new environment and making sure Scott and I keep our relationship fresh, are two things that are vital to keeping our home happy. The morning routines, like I said, will happen over time but that’s the power of motivation, will power and awareness over the first few weeks.

Thank you so much for reading today’s post! I didn’t want to necessarily write an advice piece because this is new to me so it’s more of an update. If you have any posts that you think would be relevant to what I have talked about today, please let me know either below in the comments, on my Twitter or on my Instagram.

Taking On My Biggest Challenge Yet: Ten Mile Race.

It’s been a while since I posted about an upcoming race isn’t it? Well, that’s what I’ll be talking about in today’s post and it’s my biggest challenge yet! *cue the sweats* 

If you’ve been a reader of the blog for a while, you’ll know that I have been absolutely in love with running and other times, I’ve found myself at a low point with it. I also talked recently about my running confidence (which I’ll link you to here) so when they tell you that running isn’t linear, it’s one hundred percent true. I’ve been feeling more motivated with my running recently when I set myself a challenge of running twenty miles in June and July, and I smashed that goal. I’m very aware that for a runner, that is a very small goal but what I think is more important is that I start small and work my way up. For example, in August and September, I’m aiming for twenty-five miles. Again, slow but simple steps. 

I realise the irony in that last paragraph when I talk about small steps and taking it easy when I’ve just signed up for a ten-mile race that takes place in less than two months. Yes, two months! To give a little more context; I have ran nine miles twice; both times were last year, once in May and once in October so I know I have the physically capability to do it, but it’s just the mental capability I will need to battle with now. I told myself I needed a challenge; I had wanted to train for a half marathon but not necessarily sign up for one but thirteen miles just seemed far too much for the later stages of this year. When I came across ten miles, I knew that was something that I was going to have to work hard for but in the few months, I knew I could do it. With the motivation I have been getting back recently with running; I knew that if I kept that up while increasing my mileage and building my speed back up again, I would be fine. It’s that initial stage of those first thoughts, “Okay, so how do I get my head in the right space for running this distance?” 

(Photo Credit: ABC Council)

The race itself is the Armagh 10 Mile and 4 Mile Fun Run challenge that takes place on Sunday 13th October that starts and finishes at the Navan Centre in Armagh. It’s actually the 20th anniversary of this race this year so I’m sure it’ll be exciting to be a part of that celebration as a whole. I’ll be running it with Scott as always, so I’ll have company with me if I hit a mental block (but fingers crossed I won’t, with the right training). If you fancy reading more about it (and potentially signing up to it) I’ll leave it linked here. 

My plan is over the next few weeks to keep the blog updated with my training runs, how I’m feeling, about the highs and lows, and the overall build up to the race. I’m genuinely so nervous so if you have any tips or advice for me, I’d absolutely love to hear them either down below in the comments, over on my Twitter or on my Instagram. Thank you so much for reading, I really do appreciate it! 

Goals: Reflecting on June and July and Establishing August and September.

I’m back today to talk about my goals for June and July, while creating two new goals for August and September, something which I’m finding really fascinating for my goal-oriented mind. It’s my twist on New Year’s Resolutions, so if you want to find out what I talked about last time in terms of bringing my goals back, you can read that post right here.

Run twenty miles.

Twenty miles in two months really isn’t all that much but that was the point. I wasn’t a seasoned runner like I used to be so I set myself a low goal so I knew I could achieve it, and I did. It’s so strange to say it but I’ve seen progress in those two months already and I couldn’t be happier about it. I had a complex about my running because I was at a better stage last year and I think that’s part of the reason why I had been avoiding it.

Learn Polish again.

Our Polish practice was really important to Scott and I because it was something we agreed to do at the start of the year because we both love languages. However, ever since I left school, I’ve never had the discipline to sit down and try to learn a new language. Once we stopped our Duolingo for a week, that week turned into quite a few months and we kept saying to each other, “Okay, we’ll start it again tonight” but that tonight never came. I’m happy to say that we’ve started again and we’ve got to that difficult stage in the language where we’re trying to learn the difference between what verb to use depending on the gender or activity. It’s frustrating sure, but it’s something that we’re happy to be back learning.
Having progressed on both those goals, that doesn’t mean the end for those. I’m planning on upping my mileage by five miles for the next two months and we’re planning on keeping the Duolingo on track too, but those aren’t my new goals. Those are goals that will continue on in the background because if I wasn’t planning on continuing them, the whole aspect of setting goals would be pointless, right?

Read two books and listen to one audiobook.

Very specific I know but using the SMART goal method (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) it fits in perfectly. I could say “I want to read more” but if I read a page, I could conquer that goal but it wouldn’t move me any further forward. I’m still trying really hard to read more books and this year has been an incredible year for audiobooks especially, but I want to combine them both into this goal, to give myself a little variety.

Plan out my workouts in the gym in advance.

One of the goals in my Continue, Start and Stop plan was that I wanted to stop going to the gym with no plan. Sure, it only takes a few minutes to plan out what you want to do but it’s just so much better to know in advance. It means you can plan your leg day, your back and chest day or even your cardio day with a better intention of how you want your workouts to be for the rest of the week.

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Thank you so much for reading today’s post! If you can’t tell, posts around goals or goal setting in general are one of my favourites to write and if you have any similar posts, I’d love to take a read.

Buying My First Car: What I Learned and My Advice to Others.

Today’s post has been a few months in the making; mainly because I didn’t want to write a “What I Learned…” about something I had for a week or a month, I don’t believe it would have been very beneficial so today’s post is all about buying my first car and why I went down the route I did. 

My history with cars has been pretty simple. I’ve been on my Grandad’s insurance since I started driving six years ago, I was also on my Dad’s insurance as well as an ex-boyfriend’s and my brother’s, and I have also rented a few cars for a small number of weekends away. I’ve driven probably less than ten cars but they’ve all been so different (as all cars are of course) so I’ve known overtime I can adapt to pretty much any car, not straight away but it doesn’t take too long. 

Where I live, it’s not too far from the city centre; you can get there by an eight minute bus or a half hour walk. My (not so new) job means that it’s a six minute drive or a half an hour walk, but I’ve only ever walked to my job once (One of the downfalls of having a car is that it’s harder to walk everywhere when you’re so used to driving) I had a car that I was borrowing for a few months but I knew it wasn’t going to be mine forever and I knew that my job was going to be moving offices, I just didn’t know when. Our new office is accessible by public transport but it was going to be a twenty minute walk to the bus stop and then an additional fifteen minutes bus journey, which I know isn’t bad considering people are sometimes on a bus for hours each day. For me however, I thought a car would be much more beneficial than getting public transport, not just for work but for groceries at the weekend and day trips too. Yes, you could technically say I’m feeding into the emissions in the air, but I try my best when I can when it comes to helping the planet. 

(This is my dream car! We rented this one time when we were taking a staycation weekend trip and I absolutely loved driving it.)

I’m not a car person; I didn’t know makes and when someone asked me about a car, I would normally only remember the colour. Not the best attitude to start looking for a car I know, so I had to do some research. Mind you, I didn’t have to do loads because I was looking for a simple car that was going to get me A-to-B but I wanted to make sure that it was going to be a good runner and without the pain of having to get it fixed every few months. I had started searching on websites that had private owners but I came to the decision pretty early on that I wanted to go to an official dealer instead and see what they had to offer.  

I didn’t have the money to buy a car outright so that was another big influence in going to a dealer rather than someone private. I had heard of the finance options that were available and I felt a little lost because I didn’t want to get a car on finance originally but knowing my financial income and wanting a car, this was the only route to go down. Turns out it’s not as bad as I had thought; at first I thought it was a complete waste of money and in the end you wouldn’t own the car but you actually can do this, depending on what finance option you go for. 

(This is Penelope, isn’t she a cutie!)

I’ve now had my car for around three months (at the time of writing this post) and I thought I would give you my advice on what to look for and what to do when you’re buying your first car. 

Look at what finance options are available to you. 

Finance can be a mind-field if you let it be, and because it is an investment, it’s important to know what your options are. There is PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) or HP (Higher Purchase) both have their advantages and their disadvantages but I personally went with HP. It’s over five years and because it’s longer, the repayments are less. There is also the option of getting a loan, whether that’s from the Credit Union (if you’re part of one) or from your Bank; they tend to have good interest rates especially if you’re already a customer. I found this really good article by the Money Advice Services on the different types of payment options for a car (https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/car-finance-explained) so if you’re looking for a more in-depth look on the options available, I’d recommend that. 

Know what type of car you would like and what you’re using it for. 

From the beginning, I knew that I wanted a simple car that I could use to drive myself to work, take to the shops for the weekly shop and to go out on road trips. I wasn’t going to be using it to bring furniture one place to another so I didn’t mind it was a smaller car. I didn’t need a huge boot and a small boot would encourage me not to pack it so much. The bigger the car, normally the bigger the price so I knew if I didn’t need a big car, I wouldn’t get a big car.  

Set a budget and stick to it. 

I fell in love with the Nissan Juke when I rented it and that is my dream car, but it just wasn’t in my budget. Scott and I had discussed buying the car together and splitting the repayments, and while he wasn’t going to drive it, he still wanted to pay towards it. This meant that I wasn’t doing it on my own but we still looked at a price that would let us both live comfortably and being able to pay petrol and anything else that may be needed towards it. You also have to look at the price in terms of the extras that you may or may not want to pay. I got extras which I do regret some of them now, I don’t believe I need them that much and I could go without them but that’s a lesson for my next car. 

Ask someone who knows the right questions to ask. 

As someone who doesn’t know anything about cars, I asked my Grandad and Scott’s Dad about cars because they are much more knowledgeable than me and they were both really helpful. I think it’s important to ask for help especially when you’re making such a huge commitment as to buying your first car (or buying a car in general). It’s a massive payment and it’s a long term investment which should be taken seriously, so asking those questions no matter if you think they are silly, is still important. 

Experience the cars in real-life. 

Photographs are great sure, but having a look around the car, seeing what it’s like inside is something that you can’t experience online. I think it’s fantastic being able to see a wide range of cars online but if you can narrow down your choice then make a few appointments to go and see a few cars to see if you really like them. Will you be comfortable driving it? What is the exterior like? Is it bigger or smaller in real life than you had imagined? You’re under no obligation to buy a car when you’re just looking but it can really help if you even take it for a test drive. You might like the overall look of the car but maybe not how it drives, so it’s important that you’re not just going by picture alone.  

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Thank you for reading today’s post! I hope that could be helpful to at least one person and if you have any similar posts you’d like to share; please leave them down below in the comments, over on my Twitter or my Instagram.