♡ A New Year, and a Not So New Me.............? ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I LLLIIIVVVEEE! (bonus points if you guys know, which movie scene I'm channelling there) but, HI THERE! I have been still living, and breathing, but I took a year off, and away, from the pressures of blogging - which has been nice, and now even though I do feel ready to do this again, but I am going to do this at my own pace, at my own degree, and listen to myself when to comes down to decisions etc. Did any of that make sense? Or is my mind just going on another ramble quest as per usual? 

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SO ANYWAY... 2017 came and went extremely quickly, no? I don't have many interesting experiences from last year - as my mental health took an extreme nose dive down the dunny - but one of the major things that happened last year, was that I changed jobs! I'm still working in childcare, but I changed my setting (as at my old one, my manager was an extremely toxic person) and I am happier where I am, and I feel that I can progress on further with my career! Another major event - my second baby cousin (a boy, called Samuel) was born, and he's a May 4th baby!!! So, basically I am going to be sowing the seeds of Star Wars into this child as much as possible, aaannnddd last but not least, my brother went and got married, so I now have a new sister! That's it. I didn't do any fancy travelling abroad, or anything memorable, but nonetheless, it was still productive, and even though there were, rather a few shall I say, dark times during the past year, I came out the other end breathing, maybe just a tiny bit ragged, but still breathing. So bonus.

A thing, though, that I did focus on more during the last year, was my photography and it has been rather nice, if I do say so myself, to have that distract me for a while. 

This next part goes slightly off tangent - but there is a reason behind it, so do keep reading! There is this interesting guy - who I found about, from my mother! She got his book from the library, and I started reading it, and kinda found myself nodding along. He's called 'The Angry Chef', (you can read his blog here btw) and he basically rants, and exposes things to do with the food world - which you've gotta admit, some things can be pretty ridiculous, no?! But in the end, it was these words that stuck out to me the most;

Just a small mantra, that will always stick with me from now on. Seriously, fuck what other people say or think - and to continue on with that mantra, I did decide that for 2018, I wasn't going to do any resolutions or goals, or whatever you'd like to call them. But, I am going to do more. More travelling, more exploring, more eating, more treatin', more ignoring the "looks" and "comments", more not feeling guilty about the small things, just MORE. More of life, more of breathing freely, more of not being sorry for being who I am, and more of living.

So here it is, and here I stand. Unfiltered, and (trying) not to give a fuck.

♡ Oh Shit... Whaddup 2017! A Quick Catch Up + What I got for Christmas ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

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It's been a while hasn't it? I must admit, I hadn't had that familiar blogging feeling for a while before my trip to Tokyo, but now I am back - well, it seems to have travelled back with me!

2016, has most certainly, been a roller coaster for everyone it seems - some with more ups, than downs, whilst others had more downs, than ups, and that is not necessarily a bad thing?! Personally; a massive down for me, involved hitting the highest peak of my mental health - where I had been driven to the point, where I saw no reason in carrying on any more with life... yeah, that was hard to say the least. But, with prodding and shoving, I was able to drag myself to the doctors, and I have been given the correct help that I, so desperately, needed, and now I am (slowly) on the road to recovery! I've decided, not to let my mental health stigmatise me, and lead my life any more, and I will strive forward with the determination (and some form of grace) I have had hidden away inside of me, for quite a while it seems.

Despite that down, a big climb up I endured, was completing my NVQ Level 3 in childcare - so that makes me, officially, a qualified nursery nurse! *inserts some form of witchy cackle here* Oh, and I suppose, another big climb was travelling to my dream country.. I mean, if you've been following me on instagram, and twitter, then you may have seen the spew of my posts. Only a small amount of spew... tiny, weeny bit *coughs* But, in all honesty, Tokyo was extremely fabulous, and I still miss the hustle and bustle of the city, and just... *sighs* I need to go back ASAP. Not going to even sugar coat it. I am going back. End of discussion.

Now, I don't have any goals, or resolutions, for 2017 - especially the ones that involve the mantra "new year, new me!" pffft. I'm just going to go along with life, and whatever comes my way - whether it be good or bad - I will take it. And hopefully not spontaneously combust from it, but hey, we shall see! I already have a few good events coming up this year - birth of another new baby cousin, my older brother getting married and... ok that's about it so far, but I'm sure more will come along!

What I got for Christmas

NOW. Here's something light, to finish off this post. I always love seeing what everybody received for Christmas - because heck, who doesn't love to be surprised by presents? Especially when there were some items, you weren't truly expecting! I only had a small, ten (or was it more... I can't remember tbh) item list, as I would have just come back from Tokyo with lots of goodies, so I wasn't expecting a great deal - until I come down on Christmas day, and get greeted w/ most of this lot (I say most, because I hadn't seen some family members until later that day, and on Boxing Day etc)

The biggest surprises for me - were the Vera Wang Princess perfume, the Jeffree Star Cosmetics and the Colourpop cosmetics! I'd completely forgotten that my mum was asking me which brand(s) I preferred, other than Urban Decay, and without even clocking on, I just said those two. Which is true, because these two brands were the two I used the most throughout the entire year!

Regardless, I feel like a spoilt princess, and I love each and every piece, and I am wearing my new slipper boots until they die - seriously they are so soft and warm and jfc, my feet welcome them.

So that's it! I did think of a couple new goals for the year, as I wrote this - improve my photography, and improve my make-up skills! Hopefully it will happen... fingers crossed. So, I wish all my friends, and family, and everyone in between, a healthy and thankful new year. May you never quash your hopes, dreams and desires, and remember to reach for the stars and the moon - because even though you may not believe it, you damn well deserve it ♡

Thank you for reading!

xoxo

♡ あけましておめでとう! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! ♡

みなさん、こんにちは! 

image source: here

How can it already be 2013? The past year has flown by so quickly that I actually feel dizzy from it all... but I am going to welcome the new year with open arms and a lot of glee. I have a couple of goals to aim for this year - and I am not calling them resolutions because I'll just get lazy and ignore them - so having these goals certainly is pepping me up into accomplishing them:

1. Get my drivers license.

I've already failed my theory test four times when I was 18 and it basically got me downhearted about it so I gave up. Also living in London for university certainly didn't give me any motivation to go out and do my driving tests because what was the point when you had public transport every five minutes at your fingertips as well as shops being in walking distance. But now, living in the middle of nowhere where buses come once every hour has certainly given me enough drive (no pun intended by the way...) to get on and succeed into getting my license.

2. Concentrate hard on my Japanese and Korean language studies
Over the past 4-6 weeks I have let my studies slip a little lot and it's time to get my head down and concentrate on learning these languages!

3. Learn something new
I suppose this one is a bit cryptic but every year I do learn something new - whether it be discovering a new author, listening to a different genre of music I would never touch with a barge pole or learn a quick and simple fact that I never have heard of. But this year I am going to learn how to do dressmaking! My mum learnt how to do it at my age and it's something I have always wanted to learn from her and this is the year to (quickly) learn before I move abroad.

4. Carry a notebook and a pen around in my handbag
A useful tip given to me by university professors but - like I always do - I ignored and so writing little scraps of literature on napkins and sweet wrappers is becoming something tedious and annoying... Also; I want to get back into my writing because I've spent the past three years studying to improve and what is the point in giving up now?

5. Spend less time indoors and more time outdoors
Because of certain personal issues; I have become a somewhat form of a hermit, leaving the house only to walk the dogs and go off to work... never really for anything personal like meeting up with friends and whenever I did that it became a once a month thing.

6. Save money
It's an obvious one right? Well it kind of ties in with the one above because spending time indoors I have found a lot of online stores where I can easily spend my money and get it delivered to me quickly so it's time to pack in that habit and start something new. After I've paid my rent and my bills; I shall buy only one item that I desire from my wishlist and keep the rest of my earnings to one side... apart from buying gifts and cards for friends and family as that's extra spending right there!

7. Gut my room and go to a boot fair
My room needs sorting badly. I swear there are things like books, notebooks, cd's and stuff from way back in my teen years that I certainly have forgotten about. It's time for a change and it's time to clear out the clutter and sell many of the decent things to earn a few extra pennies.

8. Accomplish getting my dream job in Seoul
To me; I need another six months in England before I can move halfway across the world and make a new life for myself. The next six months shall be spent with friends that live the farthest away from me and the ones that I will miss the most when I'm out there but also the next six months shall be full of cleansing, forgiving and excitement that will become the most wonderful memories for future time.

I do believe that is it. These eight goals will certainly keep me busy in 2013 and this year already feels lucky to me because a) 13 is my lucky number and b) it is the year of the snake in Chinese Zodiac and I was born in the year of the snake so it feels like it is my time to have some luck. Are there any goals you wish to succeed these year? Remember... wishing for a great 2013 with words is not the way to do it, but to go out there and make something of it.

Thanks for reading!
xoxo