Hello 2015!

With my last post we can say I've closed 2014 chapter and am ready to officially say hello to the New Year on here too! Yet I'm still quite enjoying all my chocolate from Christmas...

All in all, 2014 was a good one to me - yes, I've seen better years before where health issues didn't persecute me until the very end, but looking back to it I really can't complain. As much as I think being grateful and appreciate what you have instead of craving for more is essential for living airily, I feel like as human beings we need to see some personal improvements during our lifetime, this is why my new mantra is really trying to start enjoying those little things I barely was able to see before, and improve my health and living by simply having little, encouraging goals for my 2015, trying to not feel overwhelmed by dreams that are actually too big. I truly believe that everything starts small: I want to do things like anybody else, but there's no rush for them, all the little steps they require need time and other smaller steps to happen.

Here are a few basic things I'd like to be included in my 2015...

More Books
It's embarrassing how many books I haven't read in 2014. I used to love reading, books to be my anchor, and now I can't seem to be able to even finish one! I don't even know how many books I've left there undone after only reading half of them. Sometimes I feel like I need to step back and dip my toe into those lines again maybe eliminating that hour I spend at my phone or laptop at night right before bed. I hope to be able to accomplish this in 2015 by starting from those I left behind unfinished!

More baking experiments
Yes, I baked a lot in 2014, as I did in 2013 and the years before, but as much as I like to bake my trusty recipes over and over again, I feel like I'm a tiny bit stuck and lacking of inspiration lately. I am good at baking and recreating my favourite recipes, but I'd like to try and experiment more with other techniques and maybe learn something new since every time I tried something different in 2014 and it didn't turn out as supposed, I gave up and never tried it again!

More healthy choices
At the same time I miss my 'making healthy choices' motivation I found back in summertime last year. Since then life has overwhelmed us and I seem to have forgotten how important it was for me to have a healthy lifestyle and how good it felt like! Hopefully I'll be able to make up for it this new year.

More movies
I've never really been a fan of going to the movies before (if not for popcorn!) but I started enjoying it only lately in December and it feels nice and exciting to have a new activity to love and do more often! I'm pretty excited for a lot of movies coming out soon and can't really wait to give them a go and I'm so happy this can become a more enjoyable choice to spend our afternoons or evenings in the following months!

Travel and build memories
It was a very new thing to us to travel on our own in 2014 for the first time and plan, pay, enjoy a vacation relying only on ourselves. It was exciting, beautiful and helped building new fascinating memories that will be hardly washed away by time or anything else. I am already quite sure 2015 will reserve us another travel somewhere exciting pretty soon, however I do have enjoyed even the smallest road trip or our short day trips and I hope this year we can jump on a train and go somewhere new a bit more often.

Here's to a new year where starting small and building big will get us very far! I'd love to know what your 2015's big or small new year resolutions include, so let's chat about being positive in the comments :) x

Mini Goals | August

I'm a bit late with this month's mini goals (again) but not that late as last month so it's fine! I'm actually collecting a few little goals for this month recently and this time they're really mini and easy to accomplish but hopefully this will mean that I'll be able to tick them all off by the end of this month - and this will surely make me feel a lot satisfied!

Buy a proper to-do list - At the moment I'm working as a creative, managing my blog design shop and this blog, and I have lots of cute little notebooks where to write down any ideas or thoughts I have to remember, but the truth is that what really comes handy to me are to-do lists since I usually simply write down post or design ideas or things I need to get done by the end of the week, and notebooks don't give me the feel of being that organized. I need a little space where to write down things and tick them off when they're done, so it's finally time to invest in a cute and handy to-do list and hopefully this will help me to stay a lot more organized and properly see what I need to do all neat and listed down in one place only.

Invest in some new work out clothes - I try and work out a lot more recently which makes me really proud of my consistency, however I would really love to have some proper work out clothes that fit me nice being that the only ones I own at the moment are years old and not that comfy at all. I think investing in new sport clothes will make a lot of good to my motivation and will push me to be even more consistent - because I love wearing new comfy clothes especially if they're cute!

Start saving - I know this seems not to go that well with the previous two goals of this month, but I really need to start saving some money for any upcoming future plans and projects. This goes along with last month's goals of starting to spend on a pre-established budget and I'm trying to only invest in things that can actually really come useful and avoiding every not needed extra treat for the moment. It doesn't even seems that hard at all but I always find something "I need" and really need to start to see what is useful and what is unnecessary instead. So I promise I'll stay away from any % off or sale newsletter mail I'll receive in the next future!

What are your goals for August?

Mini Goals | July

I know it's kinda late for my monthly mini goals now but July was a very busy month and I totally forgot of writing this post down until today. I love writing these posts though, and I feel like they're interesting to read too, and being that July isn't completely over yet, I thought I can still share some goals for the month and some of those have already been accomplished.

Enjoy my summer - I have big dream and goals for the future and most of them need to have a clue as soon as possible, but being that this year I've not been the luckier person so far, and that all I really need right now is to feel happy and calm and thoughtless, I just want to enjoy the most out of this summer and shift all the challenging plans to the end of it. I need time to think and this is for sure, but for now I'm trying to seize upon every single opportunity that pops up to be purely happy and nothing else, and I think this is all I need to really improve my mood.

Work out and be healthier - I'm not a fan of strict diets and will never be, but one thing I want to do is to try to eat as healthier as possible from now on as well as try to work out more (even though it's such a pain with this hot weather right now), because I feel my body really needs this right now as well as my self-esteem.

Start buying on a pre-established budget - I used to buy way too many makeup and skincare products just a few months ago but at this time I'm trying to manage my money in a better way and treat my self only when I really need it and not on a regular basis as I used to. I think the best way to be more responsible with my purchases is pre-establish a budget for my treats every two or three months and stick to it religiously without exceptions.

What about your July's goals?

Mini Goals | June

Last month I started this Mini Goals blog series and I found it so helpful to me as publishing a list of little life goals every month really push me to actually tick them off and achieve something, whereas maybe keeping them for myself, I could forget them or get distracted. You seem pretty interested as well, and since this can be a nice way to update you a bit on what is going on in my life, I'm back with some fresh new June mini goals.

Bake a lot more - as you may or may not know I love baking, it's just one of those things that really relax and passionate me at the same time and when you find something that tick both the boxes, you know it's something special. I like to experiment with new recipes or just stick to my favourite trusty ones, but recently I'm rarely taking a few hours for a good old baking session, and I just feel I need to have some time alone with my oven and my baking tins - such a weird thing to say, but I actually have just bought the perfect brownies baking tin and two lovely recipe books and I can't wait to use them!

Go back to yoga - I'm a huge huge fan of yoga and even though I used only to practice it on my own at home, it was so nice to take that half an hour a day to have a little time for myself and my body and just relax and have some deep breaths. I miss it and I'm planning to go back to my routine as yoga is just one of those things that can really change your days and relax you and your body as anything else - and I seriously need to relax lately.

Visit gardens - I used to hate when my dad wanted to visit parks when I was a little girl - all that walking and walking and nothing more. But I changed a lot and now parks are my number one favourite places to visit and I'm planning a day trip to this beautiful garden this week with my boyfriend as we both love parks, and I love flowers and it just makes me in a good mood only thinking at it. Not to mention I'm also thinking about a little "romantic" picnic.

Have a better approach to life - this is not my luckier time but I really want to feel positive and just stop worrying about everything like health and life stuffs. I just feel so stressed about when I start thinking negative stuffs about me, my life and my future, that I just want to start push those bad thoughts away starting from this month and just stop worrying too much about everything hoping this will help in bringing some luck and good news in the upcoming future.

What about your June goals?

Mini Goals | May

I'm one of those persons who really needs to have some goals in life to actually feel like I'm getting something done, and this rule applies to big things as well as to little daily or monthly plans, so I thought I could start sharing some mini goals I'm trying to set myself every month or so - maybe just because it will feel so good ticking them all off at the end of the month.

Watercolor painting - In April I started my little business and refreshed my blog as well, and as any fresh new start or new thing to come, they brought to me a breath of fresh air and are really keeping my creativity alive, so that I'm everyday more into playing around with Photoshop and tech stuffs, but I'm actually planning to go back to watercolor painting and trying making something beautiful by hands and brushes.

Visiting new places - Everytime I visit new places I always keep wondering why I do it so rarely, and I'm planning to spend a lot more time visiting beautiful natural spots we are surrounded by. Also visiting new places is always so inspiring, brings back memories and feels so nice and refreshing. I should definitely do it a lot more often.

Sticking to my routine - Working from home is something lovely but sometimes can be so stressful especially if you tend to overdo and don't stick to a routine or to your own pre-estabilished working hours. And I always do that. I need to remember a lot more I have a life too and I can do something different but always creative even away from my computer, but mainly to stick to my working hours and don't continue working even late in the evening as this really makes my mood worst.

Reading - back in the days I loved reading and being captured by a book completely was one of my favourite things as it really brought me in other worlds and stimulated my fantasy, but nowadays is very rare I find time to read a book, or better, when I have free time I always prefer doing something different. I miss reading though, and I think this is the time I should come back to books and have some good reading sessions during the week. First on my to read list is Game of Thrones.

I thought to keep these mini goals pretty easy and not go too deep, as I know the little things can make my days better as well and I don't want to dream too big. So hopefully I'll be able to stick to them and make my month of May a little bit better and more creative.

What about your May's mini goals?