DID I ACHIEVE WHAT I WANTED TO? | WINTER GOALS RECAP

Howdy!
Hope y'all really good on this fine Thursday (although I'm writing this on Wednesday... OooOooo)
It's feeling so good to be back in business properly, with a new video, my first vlog in a while and of course back to my usual style post/ramblings every Tuesday and Thursday, I'm finally feeling productive and I'm spending my days creating things I'm proud of rather than forcing them out of me to meet a deadline that I set for myself... 

So with that and this new found positivity (hurrah) I thought it was the perfect time to recap over the past few months and to put it to bed once and for all. If you're a long time reader you'll know that I like to set myself seasonal goals; goals to try and achieve during winter and goals to try and achieve during summer.
I find it's a really great way to grow; both as a person and as a business woman- I set myself both personal goals and goals I'd like to try and achieve work-wise and I take them pretty darn seriously indeed.
It's nice to have a list or a blog post as the case may be, to refer back to when I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed or lost in this crazy fast paced world in which we live.
If you're yet to give it a go, why not start today? Jot down a couple of things you'd like to achieve by September 2018, thats 5 whole months in which to try and tick off one or two things you've been putting off or dreaming about.

It works wonders for me, most of the time... Or does it? Let's take a look back at the goals I set myself last October and see how far I have come.

The last time I spoke goals with you I teased about the fact that we were moving into a house, wow(!) That already feels like a lifetime ago! And whilst it's taken us a long time to get cracking on making our house a home, which was my goal for the winter, I can safely say that we are well on our way to achieving it.

I must say that I have been suitably surprised with how long it takes to transform a house into a home. We were extremely lucky with our new house in that it was pretty perfect from the off.
It was completely white washed with a brand new kitchen and bathroom. The floors and carpets had recently been redone and it was more than live-able. 

When I was living in our flat in Manchester, with it's bare brick walls, overlooked windows which let ZERO natural light in and dark furniture, I pined for all things white, bright and airy. I couldn't wait to move into our south facing Victorian property with it's newly painted walls and gallons of natural sunlight streaming through the windows.
However, this is a case of "you always want what you haven't got"; we lived with all-white-everything for a good couple of months, only to realise that we really aren't white kinda people. Like seriously can you really imagine me living in an all-white home? No, me neither!
So we set to work painting each room in the deepest, darkest yet most vibrant colours we could find and we're now getting there slowly but surely. Next up is my office, then the living room and finally the spare room... And we might refit the all-white bathroom, but hey, we'll see.

Our house is definitely cosy with tonnes of colour and character and the most eclectic mix of furniture and artwork you've ever seen. I'm SO excited to start sharing some home blogposts with you all, starting at the end of the month (fingers crossed) so do stay tuned for that. 

SO yes, the long and short of it all is yes, I did achieve my goal of making a house a home, it's just a lot slower of a process than I initially thought, but we're getting there, hurraaaah! 

Now this one actually makes me chuckle- One of my winter goals for last year was to bring home a Dachshund puppy... And now I have two YAY! This is an absolute lifelong goal of mine and I feel so lucky to have two beautiful, healthy, hilarious and loving sausage dogs in my life. I've adored the breed for as long as I can remember and I pinch myself every day that Peter & Nancy are a part of my family. I promise there will be an update very soon now they've just turned 6 months old, it's just quite difficult to get them to sit still for more than half a millisecond, but I'm working on it I promise. Goal 2 successfully achieved YAAAAS!

My third goal for winter 2017-2018 was to take a break. I think I knew back in October that I was beginning to burn out a little bit and then with moving house, getting the puppies, dealing with some online meanies and the ever growing work load the inevitable happened, I became a shell of the person I once was and a holiday was certainly required. 

Fast forward to March 2018 and we got that holiday we both craved so much and had a bloody gorgeous time to boot (I'll be sharing the first of three posts from our time in the Maldives next week eeee!) We’re back, both happier, stronger, more creative and fulfilled little humans and life couldn’t be better. Holiday firmly achieved, firmly appreciated and firmly enjoyed.

During the summer of last year I finally found myself getting stuck into reading blogs again after neglecting them for some time for easier more digestible "micro-blogs" such as Instagram and Twitter. 
Some firm faves and weekly reads come from the likes of Amy over at TheLittleMagpie, Chloe from TheLittlePlum, Victoria at InTheFrow, Sophie over at FashionSlave and Holly from HollyLovesTheSimpleThings, plus a couple of others too.
I still read the above blogs each and every week but I’ve stopped discovering new ones, which is ridiculous as the blogging market is bigger and better than ever before! 
There are SO many Instagrammers that I WISH would write blogs too, it’s such a shame that blogs have been abandoned or not started at all, but hey such is the way of the world ey? I’d really LOVE to discover some newbies (do you have any, send em my way please!)
I’d say this has been partly achieved; I read blogs but not as much as I should through sheer lack of ones that resonate with me personally.

A simple one to have achieved but is a goal achieved all the same, was to host a dinner party in our new home for as many people as possible.
When we first moved into our new house we had quite a few dinner parties to be honest, which was SO lovely! I really do adore looking after and feeding those closest to me and I must, must, must do it some more! We had both of our families (plus 4 dogs) with us for Christmas Dinner which was lovely, although George did the majority of the cooking I have to admit, but since then and since we brought home the puppies, we haven’t been quite as sociable as we once were. That’s definitely something I’m going to consider with Summer’s upcoming goals thats for sure!

This next one is probably my most proud of personal achievements (apart from buying my first house but you know…) and that is going to the gym. I started training with my personal trainer Kaif in spring of last year and the changes I’ve seen to my body, my strength and my confidence is utterly incredible.
I’ve always been one to look negatively at my body, I mean, I’m a female… Duh!
I’ve never been quite happy with what looks back at me in the mirror, which now, at 25 years of age I realise is utterly ridiculous. I look back at photos of myself from when I was 18 and I looked AMAZING! Like seriously amazing, yet back then I thought I was fat. It’s the most frustrating thing ever and it’s probably the most important piece of advice I could give to anyone younger than me right now and that is to LOVE YOURSELF!
Easier said than done I know, but honestly I was as I should have been for a petite 18 year old but simply didn’t see it back then. Fast forward 7 years and my metabolism has slowed down, I am sitting at a desk all day and I am no longer playing hockey and therefore my body has naturally changed.
So I did something about it, I signed up to the gym and to Kaif twice, sometimes three times a week and the change has been incredible. I strutted my stuff for the first time in my entire life whilst in the Maldives as I actually liked myself, something I’ve never ever said before!

I’ve fallen in love with weight training and eating a little better and I’m actually excited for sessions with Kaif, who the heck am I!? Goal 6 in the bag!

My next goal was to work with more creatives and to start posting on here 3 times a week, therefore this goal was party achieved. I certainly expanded my pool of creatives to collaborate with through working with the wonderful team at Yeti on some of my most favourite of videos (see them here, here, here & here) working with new photographers such as Jack, Rosie B, Rosie W and Adam to create something a little different every single time and continuing to work with angels such as Michaela, who beautifully shot this post, whenever I am down in London. It’s been really fun to see myself through someone else’s eyes, to experiment with different mediums of photography, different editing styles and different creative minds to bring something new to the table through every single post.
I’m hoping to continue this from here on out and to push the boundaries every now and again.

The posting 3 times a week thing isn’t something I think is quite right for me currently so I’m going to stick with 2 times a week and just do me, despite sometimes feeling the pressure to be more and do more.

And hey presto thats my little recap of winter goals done with. It’s been a relatively successful goal achieving winter with just a few things to improve on throughout summer 2018.
Despite this winter bringing with it some of the most exciting opportunities and life achievements of my life, the last couple of months have somewhat tarnished it a little.
SO I’m leaving the past firmly in the past, putting winter to bed and embracing all that spring has to offer.

I’ll be back in a week or two with my summer goals, I have a feeling they’re going to get a little bit cheeky.

x M

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAELA TORNARITIS

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