2016 resolutions look back.

Hello there,

31^st December, they day of reflection of the past year. A day where I dig out the resolutions and see just how well I’ve done (or not…), have I achieved the goals I set out to do at the beginning of the year or has 2016 been terrible and I’ve failed on them all? There’s only one way to know and that’s to look back…

1) Do more of what makes me happy- I feel that I have succeeded with this one, I’ve done more for myself this year than I ever had before and I feel really glad that I have spent time working on me and making me happy and not worrying about everyone else for a change, I still feel as though this needs work as I still do a lot to please other people and then I end up feeling rubbish for it.

2) Drink more- I have been hit and miss with this one, I seem to have had stages this year where I’ve drank more and been closer to the recommended daily amount and then something would happen and then I’d be back to hardly drinking anything. So I suppose this isn’t really a success or a failure.

3) Get fitter- The one resolution everyone seems to make and never sticks too! I haven’t even made any attempt this year to get fitter so this is a massive FAIL!! I have decided that next year I actually want to take this seriously though as I have reached a point now where I’m noticing myself putting weight on and becoming out of breath when playing with the children at work and I don’t want to be like that.  I don’t necessarily want to lose weight but I certainly want to be a healthier version of me.

4) Pass my driving test- I did it!! I am so very proud of myself for actually succeeding with this goal as it was the one thing I wanted to do more than anything this year. I’ve been passed just over a month and have still got to gain the confidence of driving to places on my own but I am so happy and can’t wait to see what adventures the New Year brings.

5) Enjoy life- This one I suppose is something that I’m always working towards there are days when I feel on top of the world and love the life I have and others I feel like poop and wish my life was completely different. Enjoying life doesn’t really seem like a goal to me anymore more a constant journey, there’s always things that are going to be upsetting and there’s always going to be uplifting moments it’s the choosing not to dwell on the rubbish and focus on the good, I hope I can do this more going forward.

So here’s to 2017 and hopefully succeeding in new resolutions whatever I choose them to be! Happy New Year and I hope your 2017 is amazing!

Leigh xx

 

Successful Sunday...

Hi there,

How does one measure if a Sunday has been a successful one? Is it if you've had the most laziest of days and not moved for the day? A day of rest as the bible says? Or is it like any other day measured by how much you've got done and what you've achieved?

For me I think it's the latter as much as Sunday is a lazy day in the essence that I don't have any commitments on that one day a week to get up early or go anywhere. I find that on the laziest of Sunday's I'm bored out of my brains feeling the need to find something to do.

This Sunday was the perfect mix for me I had a wonderful lie in, chilled for an hour whilst eating breakfast and catching up on the latest episode of The Vampire Diaries (it's so tense at the minute). Then had a really easy day I managed to read a book from start to finish (Beautiful Broken Things), clean out the fish, make some amazing Yorkshire puddings for our Sunday dinner which was lovely and fufilled my duty as pot washer washing all the pots that couldn't go in the dishwasher. So a lazy but also semi productive day.

Is that how Sunday's are meant to be? As I sit writing I look around and can see so many things that I could have done today that at some point will need doing. Why didn't I just do them today? I ask myself but then the other half of me says but today is your only true day off why waste it on boring things you can do on another day?

Who knows the answer to what a Sunday should consist of, but for me I think I've found my balance.

Leigh x

New Years resolutions look back...

Hello there,

As we've reached and gone past the halfway point of the year my Sprinkle of Glitter Diary reminded me to look back on my New Years resolutions and made me ask myself how am I doing with them? 

1) Do more of what makes me happy- I suppose with this one I am succeeding. I am so much happier than I was last year, even if some things end up being cut short because of my anxiety.

2) Drink more- I was doing really bad with this one until this week I am actually drinking just over half of the recommendations daily intake of water which is great!

3) Get fitter- Ahh the failure every year! Who knows one year I may actually take this one seriously and succeed but not right now!

4) Pass my driving test- still a work in progress I took a theory test and failed so have rebooked and have been studying hard!

5) Enjoy life- very similar to my first resolution but I am rather loving life at the minute. I have a job, a roof over my head, amazing family and friends so I can't really grumble.

Let's hope that the rest of the year goes this well.

Leigh x

Bucket List update 2016

Hello There,

I was sat the other evening going through my things when I found out my bucket list and decided that I would update it to what I have achieved through out the past year or so.

1)    Learn to drive – This one is slowly turning into the bane of my life, I'm doing well on the practical side with only a few mistakes here and there but I just cant get the theory side to stay in my head. ARGH!

 

2)    Own a car – Still saving up and looking around but it seems pretty pointless to buy a car that I wont be able to use, so still saving and looking but hopefully soon!

 

3)    Have a job - I have managed to get myself a 12 hour contract! this is pretty big for me as I was petrified going into the interview and came out feeling rubbish but I got it! its only twelve hours but that's still some guaranteed hours and pennies every month plus ill still be working more hours anyway.

4)    Go Abroad –Still hasn't happened and probably wont for a while but at least I have an idea on where I would like to visit.

 

5)    Meet Ameerah – My trip to London is booked for the end of the month so hopefully if all goes to plan by the end of June I will have finally met Ameerah!

 

6)    See Sam Smith Live – I am no closer with this one unfortunately.

 

7)    Watch every episode of Friends – I have started watching them but have only managed the first disc of the box set.  I mean I will have pretty much seen them all I'm sure just not in chronological order.

 

8)    Do the race for life – I signed up and walked the 5k on 19/07/15 it was so much fun and everyone was so lovely, I shall keep my medal forever!

 

9)    Learn sign language – As of the second I am writing I am no further with this one but at the next staff meeting we are being taught Makaton, needless to say I am rather excited for that staff meeting.

 

10) Own a Polaroid camera – I have been looking but as I am saving for a car and London have refrained from buying one.  The cameras themselves in which I have found aren't too expensive its just the paper that you have to put in them is ridiculously priced!

So things are going well so far this year and I cant wait till I can finally say I have achieved every single one of these but until then, bye!

Leigh x

Best birthday ever?

Hello there,

As it nears my 21st birthday I have begun to get myself a little worked up. The big plans I have for making it a brilliant birthday and the many different things I am doing have all accumulated into making me rather anxious and I don't like it.

So there's my actual birthday itself, just an ordinary day really I'm working 12-6 then I have brownies 6:30-7:30,all should be fine right? Nah I can't stop worrying about if work have cooked something up, a co worker recently had her 21st and they got all the children in one room sang happy birthday and gave her the present they had collectively bought... Lovely right? Not for a self conscious one like me. Brownies however should be a breeze I've decided to start a new badge with the girls and have planned on taking cake (what better way to say birthday than cake?)

And then there's my party the source of all the stress and the many questions that come with it. Should I let the venue do the sandwiches or do them myself? Will this many people turn up? Will this person get along with this person for one night? Will everyone have fun? Will I have fun? So many questions that have been floating through my mind and the biggest one... can I actually pull this off? I think I've realised that planning your own birthday party is a lot harder than planning someone else's. I've had to change so many of my plans from the colour scheme I'd chosen to the cake that I absolutely loved. I just can't help but think will it all actually be worth it?

Next up is my London trip, I am looking forward to this as I have wanted to go back to London for many years but my main worry is can I cope? Will I manage 3 days in the busy fast paced city life when I'm used to my quiet little village. Will I cope with the amount of people and overwhelming overload on my senses? I suppose on this one it's a case of put on a brave face and just enjoy it! And I plan to do just that and hopefully make enough memories and take enough pictures to fill up a rather lovely scrapbook.

Leigh x 

Wheat and milk free mug cake!

Hello there,

As like everyone else I have fallen in love with mug cakes! I've tried many recipes wheat free and not and have finally found one that I love! Not only that but after playing around a little with the recipe I have made it completely milk free too, Yay!

Ingredients 

1tbsp coconut oil

2tbsp wheat free flour

1tbsp caster sugar

1tbsp cocoa powder 

And around 2tbsp soya milk

Method:

1) Melt the coconut oil in a large mug in the microwave for about 40 seconds or until completely melted.

2) Add all the dry ingredients and mix well trying to get as many lumps out as possible.

3) Add the soya milk a little at a time until you have the consistency of cake batter.

4) Pop your mug cake into the microwave and cook for around 2 minutes (or until cooked all the way through- you can test this by sticking a knife in and if it comes out clean it's cooked)

5) Enjoy!! I usually add some dairy free ice cream at this point as I find it can be a little dry but this is by far the nicest mug cake I have had!

Leigh x

3 concerts in 2 weeks!

Hello there,

If there's one thing I wish I could do more of in the world is go to concerts. I love them! I love the feeling I get when I'm there, how nothing in the world could bring me down, how I feel connected to everyone in the room just a little bit and how I know that I can have fun and if I make a fool out of myself (my dancing is terrible!) it's fine because I'm probably never going to see any of these people again!

Recently on the past two weeks I have made up for my lack of concerts in January, February and March and have been to three two within days of each other. 

The first concert I went to was 5 Seconds of Summer, who surprisingly no one that I work with have heard of. This concert was good, the boys were amazing and I even found a new artist that I quite like in the form of their support act Jessarae. However I had been having a lot of trouble with my IBS and my anxiety was on an all time high so I felt like poop. As much as I wanted to enjoy myself and dance around I felt like if I moved I would be sick and the vibrations from Ashton's drums that seemed to go straight through the floor and hit my stomach certainly didn't help. I will be honest and say o was relieved to be going home from that one even though 5SOS were incredible.

The same week as 5SOS I saw Mike Dignam. Now this concert was always going to be a good one as I absolutely love Mike and he is such a nice chap. I was quite disheartened for Mike though as he had only sold 60 tickets for this show (just last year he sold out the room) although it was heartbreaking that people seemed to not give a crap I mean £10 a ticket isn't exactly breaking the bank, Mike still gave it everything and sounded as amazing as ever. I honestly think it's the most content I have seen him play his music and the happiest he has been in his music. I especially love when he gets into the middle of the crowd and sings quite possibly my favourite song of his 'great escape' acoustically and everyone around him sings along it never fails to make me smile. And to top it all off Mike being the awesome guy he is came out to meet everyone, as he does at the end of all his gigs, so I got to meet him again briefly and have a picture before running off to get the train. The only thing that would have made this tour better was if I had my best friend with me as we both share a love for Mike. 

Finally the following week was The Vamps. Now I will be honest and say that I mainly booked the tickets in order to see one of their support acts perform live again, Hometown. It was an amazing show and I was astounded by the level of talent that each of The Vamps seemed to hold. From Brad flitting between guitars, pianos and drums to Tristan's rapping and epic drum solo it was incredible! There were a few things that I didn't particularly like such as The Vamps new singing 'New Hope Club' coming on and in my opinion ruining my favourite song 'cecila' to Hometowns meet up before that never seemed to happen. However I did get to do a first for me and met two of the supporting acts 'The Tide' and 'New Hope Club' before the show, I can't see me standing outside again in a hurry though. Two and a half hours in the cold and rain to not even see the band you want to not fun! And of course not forgetting Conor Maynard, he was absolutely fantastic. His voice everything was just so amazing, I have no words of how good he truly was.

That's been my two weeks of concerts for the year, as of yet I have no more booked but I can't see it staying that way!

Leigh x

Planning things...

Hello There,

Where do I start? In what I had planned to be the best year ever I start it feeling stressed and anxious over two things... The Easter Fundraising Fayre for Rainbows and Brownies and my 21st Birthday Party.

We'll start with the Easter fayre. I clearly haven't learnt from last time and thought it would be an amazing idea to basically end up planning and organising another fundraising event, I don't mind doing this it just sucks that I don't seem to get any help or support as I am doing it. One corner of my room is literally dedicated to things for the fayre and quite honestly I'm fed up of seeing it. I'm hopeful that this time around we will be successful and raise more money than last years summer flop but part of me can't help but think we are not going to achieve that. Without being big headed or bratty I feel that if the other leaders had listened to me and booked the room for later on in the day we might have more people show up, but hey I can't change that now can I? I mean the council are being kind enough to let us have the room for free. We'll have to see how it goes (fingers crossed).

And now onto my birthday party the most stressful one of the two. I have all these ideas and plans but I just don't have the budget or creativity to make them a reality, the cake I have fell in love with I have found out will cost me at least£160 (for cake whaat?) so the one thing I wanted is going to have to be modified to make it cheaper and more realistic. And then there's the decorations, I have quite possibly chosen the hardest colour scheme in the world! Gold and white. Like seriously Leigh if you can pull this off it'll be great but good luck finding things to make it work! Argh! I am so great ful that my birthday isn't until June so I have a good time to plan this thing, if it was next month I don't know what I'd do!

Any tips for making either of these a success?

Leigh x

Making 2016 the BEST year!!

Hello There,

For years I have just seemed to float through life not really making it exciting for myself or having plans.  This year I have decided to change that! This year will be the year I do more and make memories I'll want to remember and do things I've always wanted to do. So on the 17th January what do I have planned to make this year the best one?

1) I had my hair dyed yesterday, just the bottom, but I love it! I've been putting it off because I was scared that I would hate it but I am so happy and proud of myself for having it done.

2) I am going to see 5SOS.  I've wanted to see these on their own tour for 2 years so why not just go?

3) I'm going to see The Vamps.  I'll be honest I have seen these already and I absolutely love them live but I really want to see one of their support acts and that's the main reason I booked the tickets.

4) I'm 21 this year! And I have promised myself that I will make it the best birthday yet surrounded by friends and family.

5) I am finally after about 5 years going to meet Ameerah, one of my best friends.  I can not wait to meet her and I know I'll probably get all emotional!

6) London!! I'm finally going to explore London and do all the things I've wanted to do.  Exciting times.

So far I think that's all that I have planned but who knows where this year can take us? I'm hoping that at the beginning of 2017 I can look back on this year and think yeah that was a great year.

Leigh x

Looking back on 2015

Hello There,

As someone who cherishes memories and tries to capture them constantly, through pictures, a diary even Facebook posts or tweets I have a lot of memories and sometimes for me they all get jumbled and I can’t remember what year this pictures from or what year this happened.  So I thought that why not review 2015? I have tons of photos and memories of the year so why don’t I just put all of them into a blog post to look back to in years to come? A lot happened in 2015 so these are not in any way going to be in order.

First of all my oldest cousin had his first little boy! I have plenty of pictures of little Oscar but just don’t feel right sharing pictures of him.  I am no longer the official baby of the family! It’s only taken 20 years!

My sister got her puppy! It feels like he’s been around for ages when in actual fact it hasn’t even been a year yet! So here’s Bailey, my new four legged friend.

 

It was both my Nan and Grandads 80^th birthdays this year and we had loads of fun at each! I turned party planner for my Grandads and organised the whole party, including a book so everyone could write him a message (something he can keep forever) I also used this book to stick in photos so that my Grandad can see the faces that wrote the messages.  For me it was so important to keep as many memories as possible from this as my Grandad has Alzheimer’s and often struggles with remembering the more recent things in life.  My Nans birthday was a lot less stressful for me as I didn’t have to turn party planner my Auntie did that and she did a great job my nan really enjoyed going out for a meal with all the people closest too her and really loved the photo album that I made of pictures from the night.

On the subject of special birthdays it was also my Aunties 50^th birthday in 2015. There wasn’t so much as a party more a gathering at her house.  It was great fun and we all stuffed ourselves with Chinese until it was no longer possible to carry on eating.

Concerts:

I had 7 concerts this year a slight downsize to the 12 in 2014 but what a great 7 concerts they were.

First was The scripts no sound without silence tour, to say I got off to a rocky start that day would be an understatement my anxiety was all over the place and I felt absolutely terrible, I apparently looked it too because my mum thought we would have to come home.  I persevered though and once we got into the arena and into our seats I was fine and absolutely enjoyed the show. It was my first time seeing the script and I would without a shadow of a doubt go and see them again.

 

Next up was Olly Murs’s never been better tour.  Again the first time seeing Olly and the first time going to a concert with my cousin.  It was brilliant I always knew Olly was a proper showman and seeing him live just made that even more evident I would quite happily go and see him again tomorrow.

Next is the vamps world tour, I wrote a blog post on this one so won’t go on for ages.  It was an amazing show and I fell in love with the support act Hometown.  It was also my first time going to Scarborough open air theatre and it was beautiful.

 

Hallam FM summer live is next and what a concert that one was.  I’d been the previous year and absolutely loved it and 2015 didn’t disappoint there were so many great artists on the bill and almost all of them were great (sorry Dappy you were rubbish.) I especially enjoyed watching Nathan Sykes and even teared up during his performance (I loved The Wanted ok?)

Then came the concert that part of me had been dreading, One Directions on the road again tour.  I love one directions music and knew once I was there that I’d have a good time but I could help but fret over where we were sat what doors we were going in, if my cousin had got the tickets.  I am a complete control freak on these things so not being the one to book the tickets really did get my anxiety peaking.  It turns out the seats were amazing! So I had worried for nothing! The concert was brilliant and I really enjoyed myself, I did however have my first panic attack in the arena something I don’t want to be doing again in a hurry!

For me this was a concert but of a smaller scale.  It was a charity night in memory of a much loved man who died in 2014 there was two acts on a local band and a local guy. They were both amazing and the atmosphere was great I literally knew about 90% of the people in that room.

 

And last but not least completing my concerts if 2015 is Diversity’s up close and personal tour.  I wrote a post on that so I won’t put much here all I will say is that it was bloody amazing.

Holidays!

I was very lucky this year and managed to have 3 holidays! 2 weekends away and then a week in Devon.  I did blog about two of those trips so will just summarise the week away.  It was amazing! I absolutely love the place that we went and have done since I was a kid.  Saying this it was rather boring the places we went to when I was younger talk half a day rather than a full day and nothing seemed as magical and exciting as it once had.  We still had a great time though but have decided that we won’t be going there again.

 

I did the race for life this year! For me this was something that I have always wanted to do but never had the guts to do it and finally I did it! Ok I only raised £50 and my group were the last walking people back (we did have a 2 year old with us) but it was amazing.  The atmosphere was great and I got my medal to say that I did it!

In the snow in January I made a pretty awesome snowman! I’ll be completely honest and I had forgotten it even snowed in January!

We went to a very interesting night do for a wedding where we were literally in what was like a field on the back of a pub sat on hay bales.  It was very strange but an awesome night.

 

CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas was great this year! It was the first time I had ever been to a works Christmas do and absolutely loved it! It was great to socialise with all my colleagues without being at work.  It was a fun night and I even managed to stay until the time that we were being picked up (go me!)

 

Christmas day itself was brilliant we had my Nan and grandad and my sister, her boyfriend and dog around and found out some great news my sister was engaged! I got all the presents I’d asked for and more and everyone seemed to like the presents that I had given (few) Christmas dinner was brilliant and we had a really nice time.

Looking at 2015 like this is amazing! It’s quite possibly been one of the best years of my 20 years existence.  Here’s to 2016 being even better!

Leigh x

 

 

A new year

Hello There,

First of all Happy New Year! 2016 already time just flies by!

As with a new year you get the people going new year new me and then they never change and it was a complete waste of time. I myself have never been one to do the whole new me thing choosing more realistic resolutions like last years read more (and still I don't succeed as much as I would like) but this year I've decided that yes in a way it will be new me. Here are my 5 resolutions that I hope I can follow to make 2016 the best year yet!

1) Do more of what makes me happy- for years I have always worried about everyone else and just followed if you will, seeing the films I don't want to see because I was too afraid to say no, constantly trying to reconnect with 'friends' who couldn't care less because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But 2016 is the year I'm going to put myself first and think about my own feelings.

2) Drink more- self explanatory I never drink enough water in a day and always seem to have a headache because of it so I need to drink more.

3) Get fitter- this is one I have every year and fail on. I'm extremely unfit and really want to change that this year, fingers crossed I can keep to it!

4) Pass my driving test- not really a resolution more of a goal but I am determined that by the end of this year I will have passed!

5) Enjoy life- I've always been the person to shy away from social outings always too afraid to go, this comes from having anxiety but I don't want to let it rule me anymore. I need to start saying yes!

So that's my 5 who knows by the end of the year I might be writing a blog post on how well all of these have gone and then again I could be writing on on how bad they've gone. What are your New Years resolutions?

Leigh x