July Round Up

Now I know that this post is massively delayed, and realistically should be shared at the beginning of the month. But so much has happened throughout August that I don't know whether I've been coming or going!

However, I made the effort to take these photos and put this post together, so I have given myself the go ahead and to share it anyway, four weeks late or not!

Back in June (which feels like forever ago) I thought about wanting to photograph more of what I do on a day to day basis. Not only to be able to look back on time that I've spent with friends and family but to also share with you guys how much I eat out (I regret nothing).

Starting with July I am going to focus on featuring a post like this every month giving you an update on what exactly I got up to the month before.

From daily outfit looks to pizza, pasta and naan breads the size of my friend's heads. I admit I've forgotten from time to time to actually do this, but here's hoping going forward I'll improve.

And who knows, in future months I may have photos not solely focussed on what I stuffed my face with!

Enjoy!

At the beginning of July a took a trip down to see my sister but to also attend a very exciting job interview! My sister, Lisa and friend Philippa celebrated with a doughnut, I did not as I was being 'good', in hind sight I might as well have!

The health kick did not end at saying no to doughnuts either! I took it upon myself to take advantage of where I used to live and went for a wonder along the canals. Mainly to try and get my steps up.

For those of you fellow Mancs who haven't been to Mackie Mayor before, what are you waiting for?! They have the most amazing food vendors and a great variety to choose from! This wasn't my first visit but it maybe my last for a while. 

I highly recommend the pizza!

FYI I currently live in these culottes. :)

For those of you who know me, you will know I love pies and cannot help myself when scouting out the nearest pie restaurants.

I used to work in a pub in Marple Bridge who stock Pieminister pies and they are absolutely bloody lovely! I managed to visit their own restaurant in Manchester in July and wasted not one mouthful of my Mothership order. A must visit for all pie lovers.

Live and eat pie. 

Last month I had my first visit to the Light Cinema in Stockport. Myself, little brother and step mum had tickets to see The Incredibles 2. Accompanied by a free refill of popcorn and sofas so comfy it's just like being at home.

SPOILER ALERT - I got the job! But I'll tell you all about that in a specially dedicated post!

Further trips to London were an essential this month to go through a two day handover for my new position. Start date was, Monday 20 August!

Good vibes only!

I am the Carbonara Queen. At eating it, not making it, don't be silly.  

I'm a sucker for a good quote and nothing is more accurate than this right now. 

Frankie and Benny's have got their napkins down to a tee; I am that person who won't let you eat your food until I have taken a photo of it, I'm not even sorry.

In July I sadly had to say goodbye to these two lovelies as they moved to Berlin for amazing adventures! We couldn't say goodbye though without a meal accompanied by naan breads that were bigger than our heads. Cue the proud parent photo.

Lovely surprises for getting a new job off two of my favourite people! Just wish I'd saved the photo before the Insta Stories edits, oops. 

More food...

And again. These tapas from Bed in Uppermill though were absolutely amazing. I know understand why I have put on about 7lbs in the space of a month...

And to conclude, sunshine, roof down drives with my favourite person. 

Not a bad month at all, here's to August, the month of change.

Six Month Review

Let me take you back to the beginning of 2018.

I'm sure, like many others, I set some targets on what I wanted to achieve this year and if I'm being honest, I probably haven't checked back on them as much as I should have!

That is until now and I thought doing a little six month review would be a great way to have a look at what I have achieved, and also what I haven't even looked at. I know that it's not too late and I still have plenty of time to binge watch American Horror Story. That is if I ever actually come into the 21st century and finally get Netflix.

Let's get stuck right in shall we?

1.Visit a new country

First up I was a bit of cheat, Back in November 2017 I had booked my flights to Thailand so I knew that visiting a country I had never been to was definitely going to happen. However, I did not know that I would also be visiting Spain and Hungary! I've been incredibly lucky this year with the amount of holidays I have been on. It has also now made me want to set a new target of visiting 30 countries before I turn 30. I might be pushing it a bit, but hey, you can't blame a girl for trying!

 2. Blog more

This is one that I really could have worked harder on. Like I stated in one of my previous posts, regarding putting too much pressure on ourselves, I often find that a couple of weeks will go by and I haven't posted anything new! This is something however that I hope to improve on in the next six months. I have new blog post ideas bursting out of my head so hopefully I will get better at sharing them with you.

One thing I do struggle with though is finding the right photos to go with my posts. I would like to get a lot more outfit pictures so if you're a photographer out there and wanting to work more with bloggers, please do let me know!

3. Challenge myself

Again, this is one I have neglected a little. Regarding my blog, I do not think I have challenged myself at all. However, at work I have been on a couple of courses to improve my marketing skills and even attended one just the other week.

I do feel like I go out more now than I used to, and I have been trying new things. Because of this I have been a lot happier. I am one of these people who find it hard to sit in the house all day doing nothing. I will happily continue to spend the majority of my wages on eating out.

I'm not going to beat myself up about this one too much. I feel that if I do start to concentrate on my blog more and produce more, high quality content that will be a big thumbs up for myself.

4. Exercise more

I don't know who I thought I was when I wrote this one down! I had a mad couple of weeks before I went to Thailand when I went out on a couple of runs. Since then, nothing! This is something I should get back into because once I had been for a run I felt great for doing so! I'm really lucky with where I live too as there are plenty of places to go.

Exercise more... to be continued.

5. Watch more television series

As I mentioned at the beginning, I am yet to get past season 3 of American Horror Story, and yet to start any other series for that matter!

For some reason I just can't seem to push myself to sign up for Netflix. Because I am so busy I hate the thought of getting it, and then not watching anything for months on end. I know it doesn't cost an arm and a leg but still, it's money I'd rather have in my account.

We have a couple of box sets lying around the flat so I might get started on them first!

I did however make another similar resolution to this one that I didn't mention in my original post. By the end of the year I want to have watched a new film that I haven't seen before every week. I am doing pretty well with this one, and I am on schedule having seen 28 new ones!

Looking back, I have only really met one of my five new years resolutions! However, I have managed to complete the one which would be the hardest.

The next six months, I am going to be committed to meeting the goals by the end of the year, gimme six months and I guarantee I will have a very different post for you!

How're you all getting on with your new years resolutions? I'd love to hear from you and remember not to beat yourself up too much if you also haven't achieved as much as you'd have liked to. You have six months left to change that!

Let's Stop Putting so Much Pressure on Ourselves

It's been a while since I posted on my blog and I am fully aware of it.

Truth is I have been incredibly busy and I just sadly haven't found the time to blog. Between spending two weeks in Thailand (which I will get round to telling you about at some point), my full time job and spending time with my friends and family, there hasn't been much time left to blog.

This industry is so competitive and you can often feel like you get a little lost in it. I look at other bloggers who post three times a week to their sites, alongside YouTube videos and posting daily coffee images to Instagram and it sometimes gets me down that I am not that active. However, for a lot of them blogging is their full time job so they have a lot more hours in the day to focus on producing new content and keeping their readers engaged. The amount of followers I lose if I don't post on Instagram for a week is ridiculous, but I just need to remind myself that I'm only human and there is only so much I can do!

Part of the reason why I haven't posted for a while is because I was struggling with content. I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about and I didn't even want to worry about what photographs I would use once I did have a light bulb subject moment.

These days we all put too much pressure on ourselves to show people that we're living the best, most exciting life, dressing in new clothes and catching monthly flights to somewhere more exotic that what actually has been, (so no sarcasm at the moment intended) sunny England.

In all honesty what I would love most at the moment is to be able to read through my backed up stack of Vogue subscriptions and ensure that I am home to watch the World Cup, although I'm up for a pint of cider in the pub if anyone fancies it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure what you're doing day to day is exactly what you want to, even if that does mean staying in your pajamas watching Netflix instead of sitting out in the sun, while it lasts!

Now all I have to do in order to publish this post is to find some super fancy photos to go with it.

To kind of go against everything I have just said, I promise I have had a creative spurt and there will be new, regular content soon. But if I do fall off the bandwagon again please forgive me, I'm only human and I probably am watching Corrie or Graham Norton.