2018: Reading Goals

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I've been extremely slack in the reading department this year, and although I don't care about the numbers and the stats as much as I used to, I want to read a hell of a lot more in 2018. Next year I'm getting my mojo back, I'm gonna start reading more, reviewing more, and I truly want to rekindle my passion for reading.

I want to read at least 4 books a month next year, which is 48...but I decided to round that up to the more visually pleasing 50 books. I'm going to go for the 50 book challenge again next year, which I haven't completed since 2013, when I read 73 (I was going for 100 that year). In fact, I don't think I've ever completed a yearly book challenge without altering the number of books I want to read to make myself win; which isn't a good thing. So to complete a book challenge for the first time would be absolutely AMAZING!

 I just want to focus on reading in 2018, I don't wanna partake in any particular challenges; whether that be genre, page number or anything else of the sort - I just want the simple goal of reading more books, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I'm getting back to basics.

Here's a list of some of the books that I want to read:
✧ Winter - Marissa Meyer
✧ Renegades - Marissa Meyer
✧ The Circle - Dave Eggers
✧ A Gathering Of Shadows - V.E. Schwab
✧ A Conjuring Of Light - V.E. Schwab
✧ A Court Of Thorns And Roses - Sarah J. Maas
 ✧ The Way Of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
✧ Words Of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson
✧ The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin

 What are your reading goals for 2018?

How I'm Going To Be More Productive

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So, I mentioned in my previous blog post that I wanted to be more productive in the new year, and I got to thinking, how was I going to achieve that? It's not just something that comes to you, and I know that it won't be easy by any means, but I hope to implement these few things into my life in the coming months to try and achieve a more productive life.

✧ Put my phone on do not disturb and close unnecessary tabs
So a lot of what I want to achieve actually involves being online, whether that be on my laptop or on my phone, and the beauty of my business, in particular, is that I can take it anywhere that my phone goes. However, I need to learn to know the difference between working and endless scrolling and messaging, as at the moment, I claim to be working when I'm not doing anything productive at all. I get distracted by the beeps on my phone and the boops of my laptop when I'm in the middle of doing something particularly meaty, and it literally makes me stop what I'm doing to check...it's like an addiction (that I'm most certainly not proud of) and I need to curb that. 

✧ Focus on one thing at a time
I have this habit of flitting between about a 5 different productive activities at a time, and because I'm doing that, I'm not really getting anything done. I could get more done if I tick things off one at a time instead of overwhelming myself with a billion and one activities at once. I'll also get each of them done well, rather than a half-assed version of each. 

✧ Keep a to-do list
I've found in the past, that if I've created a to-do list the night before, I'm always more productive in the morning - it means that I can wake up and start with a purpose straight away, rather than spending half of the morning wondering what I wanna do with my day. If I stay productive, then I should never run out of things to do as well, so there will always be a neverending list of things on my list.

✧ Get up earlier
A big struggle of mine at the moment is getting up early, and when I say early, I mean I can barely drag myself out of bed before 9am! However, recently I've been looking back over my old posts and I saw my old journaling post where I was getting up between 7:30 and 8am every day for a long period of time. I always, ALWAYS find that when I get up earlier, I get more done in a shorter period of time than when I get up later. It sounds like such a trivial and easy thing, getting up early, but for me personally, this is going to be the hardest thing to start getting into a routine with.

✧ Keep a Gratitude Log
I believe that gratitude is something that most people rarely celebrate; we take for granted the little things in life when those little things are what we need to fully appreciate. I want to start ending my day by writing 3 things that I'm grateful for - this will ultimately end my day on a happy note and help me appreciate the little things so I can fully respect the big things that come my way.

I'll probably be keeping you guys up to date with the ups and downs of my productivity journey through the up and coming year, as I think it'll be an interested topic to track, and good for me personally! How do you stay productive?

2018: Word Of The Year

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Why hello there, long time no speak fellow internet dwellers - it's me, Katie, if you don't remember, I know it's been a long time. Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but instead of focusing on the past and going over my excuses, I thought it best to look forward to and talk about 2018!

Two thousand and f*cking eighteen guys! Can we just that sink in for a second? It was only yesterday that I was partying the new year of 2017 in from...actually I think I went to sleep before midnight, so there goes that story.

I started creating a list of goals that I wanted to achieve next year, and I literally could not stop thinking about them - constantly mulling them over in my mind, fine tuning them, and then realising that goals really weren't my thing. It's all well and good having things you want to achieve, but if you can't do the steps that will get you there in the first place, then what good are those goals?

I've decided on creating a word to focus on for the year, in which all of my goals can be based around - my word for 2018 will be: PRODUCTIVE!

This year just passed me by due to the fact that I got distracted way too easily - most of my time was spent scrolling through social media, playing phone games and just generally not doing anything. I swear, I spent more time thinking about what needed to be done than actually doing anything productive - so productive I WILL be!

Journaling

14:43


I bought a bullet journal a little while ago with the sole intention of seriously starting to get organised. I got everything set up, pretty minimalistic, did a week of to-do lists, and like usual, I just stopped and gave up - not for lack of being unorganised, but because it really isn't for me and this is my second time trying it. In fact, the only thing I like about the bullet journal is the habit tracker, and I can do that elsewhere. ANYWAYS, I started using the journal for a different purpose - journaling - funnily enough.

I've always wanted to write a journal because I absolutely love writing by hand - I started typing one once and didn't like it, but whenever I thought of physically writing it, I just assumed that I would get bored and not continue. I was also afraid that I wouldn't be able to write every day and that I would struggle to find things to talk about, but this hasn't been the case at all and I've been successfully writing every day now for 13 days.

 13 DAYS OF WRITING?! 13 days of doing ANYTHING habitually?! Although this may sound like nothing to you, this is one of my biggest achievements to date. I haven't stuck at anything for this long (other than my blog) in such a long time, and for it to be something as mindful as journaling is a massive plus for me. I've been really into self-help recently, and feel that journaling has made me feel more prepared for the day.

In my journal I've been able to get troubles off my mind, clear my head and remember things that I have done. Even if I do repeat myself in the future, it doesn't matter, as I'm the only one that's able to read it at the moment. It's almost become a habit for me now as well, as the first thing I think of doing each morning, instead of sleeping in, is writing in my journal. 2 weeks ago, I would have been sleeping in until 9:30AM every day, but now I'm getting up between 7:30AM and 8AM, and I'm keen to write the thoughts that I have woken up with. Admittedly, I haven't always written it first thing in the morning due to one reason or another, but most days I've been able to do it and am so proud of myself for it.

Do you journal?

Get To Know Me

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I haven't really given any information about myself so far so here's a quick get to know me survey that I found.

1. Are you named after anyone?
I think I'm named after my Nana on my Dad's side who's name was Kathleen - my real name is Kathryn!

2. When was the last time you cried?
I think it was a month ago over something really stupid, I tend to get emotional after my period. One time I got upset and cried over the fact that I couldn't do my mascara well, haha!

3. Do you have kids?
No.

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?
I like to think that I would be, but is that a question you can really answer because everyone likes to be liked.

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Sometimes a bit too much. When I was younger my Mum used to say to me that I'm gonna say the wrong thing to somebody important, and I'm going to regret it - I'm super sarcastic and quick witted, but luckily I've been careful about who I say it to so far. Although, sometimes I do have a tendency to say things without thinking as it's just too easy sometimes.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?
Probably hair or eyes, although I often notice shoes too which is an odd one.

7. What is your eye colour?
Hazel.

8. Scary movie or happy endings?
I'm gonna say happy endings, but, I enjoy films where the bad guys win for some unknown reason. I think it's because I love anything with an anti-hero.

9. Favourite smells?
Vanilla and coconut are some of my all time favourite smells. They're actually the car freshener scents that I bought the other week funnily enough - they're just so fresh and lovely and oh my god, I wanna smell them right now!

10. What's the furthest you've ever been from home?
Australia - probably the furthest there is.

11. Do you have any special talents?
I'm just me. Blergh, could I get any cheesier? I'm good at seeing the positive in everything, does that count?

12. Where were you born?
Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England.

13. What are your hobbies?
I enjoy reading, watching rugby, blogging and working on my makeup business (if you can count that).

14. Do you have any pets?
Nope.

15. Do you have any siblings?
Nope, I'm an only child, and no, that doesn't mean that I'm spoiled.

16. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be happy. I enjoy working my makeup business and want that to thrive in the future but I wouldn't be doing it and pursuing it in the first place if it didn't make me happy. I'm the kind of person that would rather be poor and happy than rich and sad.

17. Who was your first best friend?
Robyn. She used to be my neighbour when we were kids and I've known her pretty much all of my life which is amazing if you think about it.

18. How tall are you?
5'1" or 155cm

19. Funniest moment throughout school?
I'm gonna be really shit with this question as this could be a good one for an awesome anecdote, but nothing is really coming to mind at all, unfortunately. I don't like being put under pressure dammit, haha!

20. How many countries have I visited?
When I was at school, I was known as the holiday girl because my parents and I would always have at least 2 holidays a year to really random locations that nobody would ever think of going to. I am so grateful that I was able to do that when I was younger, and then I ended up going travelling around Australia and New Zealand for 2 years in 2014 as well. I wouldn't be able to give you a number though unfortunately but could list a few for you: Vietnam, China, Mexico, Tunisia, Thailand, Cyprus, Greece, to name but a few.

21. What was your favourite/worst subject in high school?
My favourite subjects were anything creative (other than English) like drama, art and graphic design. I've just always been an extremely creative person and definitely not academic in the slightest. I would always do amazingly well at physical coursework and then do worse in the exams because my brain just couldn't retain the information. I am a physical learner rather than a wordy learner in the way that I like to be hands-on rather than read loads of information. My worst subject, however, was probably science as I had absolutely NO interest in it whatsoever, and I don't think, at 26, I've ever had to use it in my life either.

22. What is your favourite drink? Animal? Perfume?
Iced coffee by a country mile. Although, we don't have decent iced coffee in England, I miss the Australian ones, they were addictive. I love koalas after visiting Australia, they're so cute and cuddly, but their looks are deceiving as they can be quite dangerous. I don't really wear perfume at all really though.

23. What would you name your children?
I don't want to think about this for a while, I know I prefer girls names, but obviously, that wouldn't be my choice.

24. What sports do you play/have you played?
Hahahahahahahaha!

25. Who are some of your favourite YouTubers?
I like a lot of YouTubers, but at the moment I've been absolutely loving Lucy Moon, I just find her so relatable and interesting. She talks about anything and everything but is also so keen to grow and learn which I find so refreshing - and as she's growing in popularity you can see her advance but she's still staying true to herself.

26. How many boyfriends have you had?
5

27. Favourite memory from your childhood?
As mentioned before, it probably has to be the holidays that I went on when I was younger. We always had one in the Easter holidays which was a touring holiday and a relaxing holiday in the Summer so we always had the best of both worlds.

28. How would you describe your fashion sense?
I wouldn't really describe it as anything, I like what I like, and I wear what I like. Although, one thing that I do always wear is florals, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm ridiculously girly. When my best friend was organising her wedding she said that she didn't know what kind of bridesmaid dresses to get because we all liked different things, and she said that I liked florals. That was the day that I realised that I do tend to go for flowery prints!

29. What phone do you have?
Rose gold iPhone 6S

30. Tell us one of your bad habits!
I bite the skin around my fingers, and it'll be the death of me because I'm always complaining about how shit my nails are!

Would you do this survey?

So Far In May

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It's coming towards the end of the month, and although I've got a ton of ideas for blog posts written down, none of them are really speaking to me right now - so I'll just give you a little bit of an update on where I'm at now instead.

 I am SUPER proud of myself right now, as one of the main things that I wanted to do this month was to get into good habits, and I can successfully say that I am on my way there. I've been pretty much getting up between 7:30AM and 8:00AM every day, I've started journalling (I've now done a solid week now), I've been working on my makeup business consistently, and I've kept up with blogging every other day on here. These things are an absolutely MASSIVE achievement for me, and I'm not ashamed in the slightest to shout from the rooftops about how happy and proud I am with myself.

 As I've mentioned before, I've never been able to stick at things for long periods of time, so I knew that this would be a challenge for me. I started the month off by saying I would blog every other day, which was my first real habit, and when I started getting on really well with that, I added little things as I was going on. I know this sounds really weird, but for me to create habits I need to force myself to do something - it sounds super counterintuitive, I know! When I force myself to do something that I enjoy, I eventually start to remember why I enjoyed it in the first place and then willingly start doing it and loving it. It works for me, and that's all that matters!

 May is definitely becoming a month of finding what really matters to me and one of self-appreciation, as I've been extremely hard on myself in the past months. If I didn't do something to the perfectionist way that I wanted it done, then I deemed myself a failure, when really, success is not built on success, it's built on failure - in order to succeed you need to trip, get back up and try again!

 Other things have happened this month, but this is by far the most important thing to me, so I wanted to share. I'm just so happy right now and I want to spread a little bit of happiness around to everyone - there's plenty to go around!

My First Date

17:08


So we were in this 5 star Michelin style restaurant; we had champagne, a selection of au d'oeuvres, caviar and an absolutely glorious lobster dish. All throughout this experience, a talented violinist was serenading us with some of my favourite songs....

Haha, well....I don't really wish that ever happened because that's way too fancy for my likings - I'm a simple girl. I do, however, wish my first date went a little more smoothly than it did. I remember it like it was yesterday, but not for the reasons you may think - it was just incredibly awkward for me.

First things first, I met my date on a really drunken night out; I'd been texting him throughout the week, I had one blurry picture of him, but I just still couldn't really remember what he looked like. I was actually more scared than anything that we wouldn't recognise each other.

So, as it turns out, I did recognise him, and we proceeded to go to Nando's. We had dinner and the conversation was okay I guess; I was a little nervous, what with it being my first date and all, so maybe the conversation could have flowed a little better. We had a lot of awkward silences and I kept feeling that everyone around us was having a good time and could see that we weren't really that comfortable with each other yet.

Next, we went to the cinema to see Avatar in 3D - I'll add this in now, don't go on a first date to the cinema with anybody. You can't get to know your date and you're literally just sitting there for 2 hours doing nothing but watching a movie. 

Anyways, back to the story, and here comes the incredibly awkward part. I was really naive back in the day (some would say I'm still the same) and had no idea on cinema courtesy or if there even was any, and I feel as though my date felt the same way. I was like, shall we talk a bit? Shall we hold hands? Oh my god is he gonna do the yawn and slip his arm over my shoulders move?

I'm cringing SO hard when writing this. I put my hand on the arm of my seat next to his, palm up, to kind of hint that I wanted him to hold my hand. He eventually did after a little bit, but then neither of us knew whether to keep holding on (for what seemed like dear life) or to let go. My hand was getting sweaty, my wrist was beginning to ache, I wanted to fidget in my seat, and I didn't know what to do. We spent a large part of the film, which is almost 3 hours, awkwardly holding hands in this way.


Funnily enough we did eventually ending up going out, but it didn't last long. I'm just glad I got that date out of the way early. 

Can you remember your first date?