Looking back at how far I've come (6031 miles to be precise)

Eight years ago 16 year old me was worried about getting the bus to Cheltenham on my own for work experience in case I got off at the wrong stop and got lost. Now I'm in Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight to Bali.

I always dreamed about travelling the world, I remember playing a world explorer game on the computer as a kid. But the thing is I never actually believed I would. I spent hours researching conservation projects abroad but didn't believe I had the confidence or capability to ever actually do it. Now here I am, aged 24 and doing exactly that!

J :)

Lost in London

Anyone who's ever travelled by train in the UK will know that things don't always go to plan. Considering I've been using trains for the past six years, I've managed to avoid the dreaded replacement bus. Until now. But more into that later, lets start at the beginning of the day, shall we?

I didn't actually take any pictures this time, so here's one from my trip last year.

My reason for visiting London this time was to see my lovely friend Georgia, who I went to university with. So last weekend I hopped on a train to London Paddington, enjoying the free WiFi and watching the English countryside zoom past. 

When I arrived I had a brief look on my phone to work out how to get to my friends house, decided on the route I thought would be simplest and jumped onto an underground train. I slowly realised that the train was terminating early due to some works going on, and ended up at Kings Cross station instead. It was then that I found out my phone had no signal or internet connection, even when I went above ground!

The songs I live by

Nothing beats a good tune, especially one with a positive message. So I've picked out some of the songs that help me along this rocky road we call life. If you want to listen along, there's a playlist here.

Yes, I am one of those annoying people who likes to plaster a Pinterest worthy quote against an unrelated yet attractive photo.

If Harry Potter is my bible then these are my hymns, in no particular order:

It's my Life - Bon Jovi
If you ever need the motivation to go out and live life to the fullest, then this is the one for you. Basically, it's along the lines of 'YOLO', "I ain't gonna live forever, I just want to live while I'm alive". As well as reminding us to follow our own path, "like Frankie said I did it my way", thanks Frankie (whoever you are*).

Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge | January 2016

This month I decided to take part in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge. I really enjoyed coming up with ideas to match each days prompt, as well as seeing what other people were posting. I posted my pictures to Instagram with #fmsphotoaday, but you can also post them to the Facebook group.

Here's a selection of the photos I came up with:

Left to right: Black + White (day 1); Simplicity (day 26); Faceless (day 17); Close-up (day 14); Flat Lay (day 30); Telephone (day 27)

In doing this challenge, I found a great community of people all taking part, whether they were posting every day, or just the odd one here and there. I set myself the goal of creating a photo for every prompt in January and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. (I've been showing my pictures to anyone who'll listen!) Although I won't be posting every day now, I will continue to check the hashtag on Instagram and will occasionally follow the prompts.

Check out my Instagram to see what photos I came up with for the other days. If you've been taking part in this challenge, leave your username in the comments below so I can have a nosy at your pictures!

J :)

Coconut oil - the miracle beauty product

You may think 'miracle' is an over-exaggeration, but seriously, this stuff is so good. I've used it for a few years now, but only recently have I found out the full extent of it's powers.

What coconut oil do I use? Superdrug's own brand

Superdrug coconut oil - suitable for vegetarians and vegans - BUAV (leaping bunny) approved.

If you live somewhere cold like me, then the coconut oil is generally going to be in solid form. I either spoon a bit out and warm it between my palms until it melts, or put the tub in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes.

So what can coconut oil be used for?

Plans for 2016

Since I gave my shop job up in November and my elf job has finished with Christmas, I've ended up with lots of spare time. I'd like to put this time to good use by volunteering somewhere locally.

Then in April I'm visiting Bali to do some turtle conservation and to teach kids English. I've wanted to do some conservation work abroad for nearly a decade so it'll be great to finally tick this off my bucket list.

From Bali I'll fly to Amsterdam, where I'll meet my sister in time for Kings day. We had great fun celebrating this Dutch holiday last year at the start of our European adventure. You can find my King's day post here, and Amy's here.

The next two points on my 'to do list' are more general goals. I used to draw a lot when I was younger so I'd like to get back into that. I'd also like to blog more than I have in previous years and learn some more programming languages. My mum recently taught me how to make crochet hearts so I'd like to have a go at trying some other patterns.

2015 round-up

Check out last years round-up.

So much has happened this year! The biggest thing that I did was to go travelling around Europe for six weeks with my sister Amy, where we visited eight different countries. I also went off to Reading festival on my own in the summer. In November I'd been working in my retail job for a year, and ended up handing my notice in two weeks later. I got a temporary job as a grotto elf, where I got to entertain children and talk about Christmas all day. And finally I turned 24.

Here are my highlights in pictures:

Jan: My sister's graduation; Feb: Spent a few days in London; March: girly weekend with my uni friends; April: weekend in Cardiff with my school friends; April-June: Europe; August: Reading festival; Oct: Met Carrie Fletcher at Cheltenham Lit Fest; Nov: Road trip to Salisbury to deliver a Christmas shoe box; Dec: Worked as an elf and spent my 24th birthday ice skating.

J :)