3 bloggers I've been loving recently

The blogosphere has been absolutely filled with incredible content this month tbh. I've fallen in love again with blogs I haven't read in a long time, I've found so many new ones to read and I've spent a whole lot of time just reading posts again. Basically bloggers have been killing it in March IMO. 

Glasses are part of my identity

I've been wearing glasses since I was ten. By now you'd hope I'd be 100% used to wearing them all day every day, mostly because I can't see without the bloody things, but sometimes I get a little thrown off. However, glasses are a part of who I am. I feel permanently grateful that I live in a time and a place in which I'm able to own glasses because the world is a total mystery without them.

I've fallen for Instagram all over again

It's official: Instagram and I no longer have a relationship marked as 'it's complicated', but are fully back together again. Instagram's been ruining my life for the past year and a half-ish, with algorithm change after algorithm change stunting my growth and messing with my feed. I mean, all I want is to see the accounts I like and for my numbers to go up not down, ya know?

10 Reasons Why I'm Excited for Spring

It has felt *almost* Spring-like this past week, hasn't it?! We've had clear blue skies, I've spied some snowdrops starting to pop their heads up, and it hasn't been bitingly cold. I'm so SO excited for Spring this year - the start of 2018 has been so hard for me, and I really feel as though the new season is going to help things get a lot easier. So, here are all the reasons why I'm excited for Spring (eeeek):

3 bloggers whose content I've been loving this month

I'm all about spreading the love, and that just gets even more intense in December. So lets kick start the (almost) beginning of the month with sharing the blog love. This month, all three ladies on my radar are women I haven't been following for very long, but who I keep going back to so that I can catch up on all their fab posts. 

My idea of the perfect cosy night in (AD)

I'm sure it'll come as no shock to hear that I'm 100% more of a 'staying in in my joggers with a takeout' than a 'dancing the night away' kinda girl. I still like the latter on occasion, but if I had a choice? I'd almost always go with snuggling up indoors. 

7 Things I've learnt from a 5 year relationship

Yep, it's the big half a decade anniversary today. Me and my partner have (somehow?) been together for five years as of today. So, instead of doing a super outdated post on some LUSH picks that aren't even festive, I thought I'd reflect on what I've learnt from being in a long term relationship.

15 Reasons why Autumn is the best season

I know that I'm a lil behind on this one and everyone has already chatted about it, but as the days really are starting to get darker I thought we could all do with a pep me up and a reminder that there are definitely things to be enjoyed at this time of year. 

Dealing with a parent remarrying

I've been putting off writing this all day. I've cleaned my pets out, cooked a full on from-scratch kinda dinner, searched for a new place to move to and finally resorted to a bath to relax and actually do something enjoyable with my Friday night. 
My parents' breakup is something that I've never spoken about on this blog. To be quite honest, I'm not sure if I ever will talk about the ordeal itself. I've waited a long time to allow myself to be rational and fair with my thoughts on the matter. Today's post has been plaguing me for months, but until I experienced the 'big day' and had time to think about it in a detached manner I didn't want to write this. Ultimately, I'm writing this post so that young people going through this will have some tips on how to handle it; me writing this post from a negative space wouldn't help me and it wouldn't help anyone else either.
So, last month one of my parents got remarried. It's something that you never envision yourself attending. I mean, I've always thought about my parents being at my wedding, but the idea of going to one of theirs was just something that I never dreamed of.
At first I had no idea how to react. In all my wildest imaginings, I never thought up a protocol of what I'd do if this happened. Which is strange because my little anxious mind thinks up a protocol for everything. I assume this event seemed so out of the sphere of reality that it never occurred to me. But, all of a sudden it was a reality and I had to face it. 
None of my closest friends have gone through this as an adult, and I felt so isolated when I was trying to come to turns with it. Everyone's advice was something I just wanted to bat away because they couldn't understand if they hadn't been through it. Luckily for me, I have a sister that I'm incredibly close to who knew exactly how I was feeling and who was there to talk things through with. 
This post is here for everyone who doesn't have someone going through a parent remarriage with them, and who has no idea how to handle it. Here are some things that I've found useful over the past few months, or have learnt to avoid. 
Discuss what exactly is happening with the parent who's getting remarried. This is a major one. I kept my feelings about the whole situation hidden for months and it finally wore me down until I felt downright miserable. Tell them how you're feeling: are you happy, or concerned about how your life might change because of it? Let them know how it's impacting you. Think about what you want from the day: do you want to be involved or in the background? Give them something to work with so that they can make the day better for everyone.
Bring a close friend, partner or family member with you on the big day. It's so nice to have part of your support network with you. It means that you won't be left alone to dwell on things that you may find upsetting, and you've got a shoulder to cry on, or someone to celebrate with if you need to.
Avoid surprises. Find out the colour scheme, plan of the day, etc, for the wedding. Things can go downhill so quickly if what you've emotionally prepared yourself for isn't actually what's going to be happening.
Wear something that makes you feel hella-confident. Whack out your favourite makeup, prettiest dress and even your lucky pants. That little extra pep in your step might be exactly what you need. 
Don't cause a scene. If you think drinking might make you a bit more feisty, then avoid it. If something's upsetting you about the day, speak to your parent privately. In the end, you don't want to remember the day as being one where you publicly spoke out against something you actually agree with now.
Take some family photos. It's a tough day, and you might be finding it a bit hard, but it's one of your parent's best days ever. Let them have that photo together, and every time you look at it it'll remind you that you put their needs first when it mattered and supported them. 
Remember that it's okay to get upset. Before the wedding, during the wedding or after. It's absolutely fine. It's a life-changing day for you in which your family structure is changing forever. Allow yourself to grieve for the way things used to be. 
I really hope this helps any of you going through this, and if you ever want more advice on the topic then feel free to drop me a DM on twitter!  Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Facebook

3 bloggers whose content I've been loving this month

I love sitting down to write these posts. They remind me of all the great posts I've read in the last month, and really help me think about why I love the blogging world. There are some people who are absolutely KILLING IT at the moment and I can't not share the love. I mean, my picks for this month (which was totally meant to be August, oops, I'm still behind), are three ladies whose blogs you absolutely HAVE to read. Like now. You won't regret it.
First up is someone I've mentioned before, but couldn't resist including again because her posts (and Insta stories) have been so damn funny and on point in the last month and a half. Nikki from Love Laughs Lipstick tells it like it is and it's so refreshing. Her post on '20 reasons why Autumn is sh*t' had me genuinely loling. I love Autumn, but you gotta appreciate the hilarious cynicism Nikki portrays in her writing, and I definitely agree with her on some of the points! 
Next up is Nicole from A Beautiful Chaos. I hardly know where to start with her blog and I'm honestly so surprised she's managed to escape being included in one of these little round-ups so far. Nicole is a mental health guru. She tackles key issues and taboo subjects on a regular basis and I honestly wonder how one person can manage to cover such a broad variety of mental health topics. From learning about CBT to how the internet can impact your mental health, if you want to understand more about mental illness then Nicole has your back. Her recent post on 'Not being ill enough to to be good enough' voiced thoughts that have been plaguing me for years that I'd never be able to put to paper with a tenth of her skill.
And finally we have the queen of the blogosphere, Hannah Gale. I'm obsessed. I don't think I've ever come across a blog where every single post screams out at me to read it. One quick glance at all the topics she covers so eloquently will show you why she won Blogger of the Year at the Blogosphere Awards recently. As well as growing a human baby (eeek), she posts about important lifestyle topics alongside giving some much needed heads-ups about all the new fashion you need to know about. Fab new slogan tee out? Hannah's got your back. Her post titled 'my relationship with alcohol' has made me think so much about my own relationship with drinking and how it's changed over the past few years.
This girls are all 100% worth checking out if you don't follow them already! Who else have you been loving recently?
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Dealing with weight gain part seven: staying body positive whilst trying to lose weight

Can you believe I've actually stuck to something long enough to give it seven installments? I've spread out this series over the past two years now, and each piece tackles something that I've really struggled with to do with my weight gain. You can have a read of all the previous posts here (I've linked them all in the last post).

Tackling my sleep problems with Resmed's Sleep+ *

Sleep is pretty darn high up on my list of favourite things. Seriously. Is there anything better than the sensation of being so tired that your eyes are just willing you into the land of nod? Or sliding between fresh sheets in your favourite PJs? Nah.

February and March book haul

I love book hauls: I love reading them, writing them, stocking up for them, everything. My last one was a December and January book haul and you can read it here. But, as it's 2017 now and environmental concerns are getting ever pressing, I've been thinking more about my impact on the planet. So, one of my goals for 2017 is not to buy any brand new books. From now on (unless temptation gets to me and I fail), all of the books featured in my book hauls will be second hand. And once they're read, all of my books will be going on to a new owner, either via Depop or a charity shop. I'm not someone who really keeps up with new book trends religiously, and so it seems like a good way to be a little more friendly to the environment by re-using things. 

The first three books in this massive little haul are all young adult fiction books. I've started to get back into the genre a little bit recently, so I picked up some new reads to help me continue with it. 

Every Day by David Levithan is something that I've seen in book stores a zillion times, but have never picked up. Now that I've read the blurb I am SO gutted I ignored it. It's all about a kid called A who wakes up in the body of somebody new every day. His one rule is not to get attached to the people he meets. But one day he meets a girl that changes everything - he now knows who he wants to spend every day with. 

All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls is a historical novel all about the Black Death. I'm a big fan of historical books but I haven't read a young adult one in what feels like forever, so I'm excited to see how the topic of the plague in England is dealt with. The title is also a reminder that the nursery rhyme 'Ring a Ring of Roses' was actually about the Black Death.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is the first Gothic novel that I've bought in ages. It's all about a small town called Mercy Falls, in which a girl called Grace meets a pack of wolves who seem a little human. One has piercing yellow eyes that seem almost too similar to the yellow eyes of the new boy in town ...

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I've honestly had the 'and I said, what about breakfast at Tiffany's / She said I think I remember that film' Deep Blue Something song stuck in my head since I picked this book up, ffs. But, it's such a big part of American culture that I really want to see the book that inspired the film and the song. 

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. I'm looking into the list of '1001 books you should read before you die' (way to procrastinate packing for holiday Steph, I know) and this author's name kept popping up, so I've decided to see what the fuss is all about. The novel was written in the 1980s and is based around a uni student in America who is sexually promiscuous and indecisive about her university career. It also features her relationship with a bisexual man, and I'm intrigued to see how the author discusses this.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is a novel by another author that kept cropping up on the 1001 books list. This is a murder mystery novel set in an Italian monastery in the 1300s. As I mentioned before, I love historical fiction, but I don't know much about Italian history during this period, so it'll be interesting to see what I can learn. 

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossini is a novel that I've been hearing about for a good decade. I was told to wait until I was a little older to read it when I was in my teens, to understand everything fully, so when I spied a copy in my local charity shop I knew I had to have it. I'm fully prepared to have my heart broken by this novel, and to learn more about the history of Afghanistan.
More Than This by Patrick Ness. I was a massive Patrick Ness fan as a teen. The Knife of Never Letting Go trilogy was something I was obsessed with, and would recommend to anybody that asked. I'm so excited to see what he offers in this standalone novel about a boy who dies ... and then lives.
Room by Emma Donoghue. This has been on my mental TBR list for about five years. No joke. It's been recommended to me time and time again and I just kept forgetting to buy a copy. Room is all about a five year old boy named Jack who lives in Room with his mother. Those four walls are his home, his world. Jack has no idea there's a world outside of Room, until one day Door opens.
The Secret by Katerina Diamond is the final novel on my list, and the only thriller. I've been loving thrillers over the past year or so, and this has got me hooked from just the blurb. DS Imogen Grey, the novel's protagonist, is on a search for a missing girl. As she gets deeper into the mystery she uncovers a terrifying trail of murder and abuse, and she ends up delving into secrets from her own past as well as the victim's.
So there it is, my book haul from the last two months. *This post contains affiliate links* Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Facebook

3 Bloggers Whose Content I'm Loving This Month

This is now the third installment in my little 'share the love' series (you can check out the last one here). This month, things have been pretty darn hectic. I've been doing a zillion shifts to save for going to Florida in a fortnight, eeeek. So, I haven't had too much time to read a whole load of blog posts, but, amongst the ones I did read, these beauties shone out so much!
First up is Samantha Jayne, whose blog is titled under the same name. It's rare that I save two of a blogger's posts on Bloglovin' to come back to within the same month, but I've just been loving her beauty content. My absolute favourite read of hers this month was a post all about some scrummy-sounding bubble baths from Treacle Moon. I've seen this brand a zillion times and always glossed over them, BUT I didn't know that they did warm cookie dough scented goodies. I mean, what could be better?!
Next up is Gwennan from Twenty Something Meltdown. Apart from being one of the nicest bloggers I've ever spoken to, and a damn good illustrator (check out her Etsy shop here), she's also one of my favourite lifestyle bloggers at the moment. I've read so many posts on bullet journals before, and all of them have made me think 'that's not for me'. They've been too arty, or too sterile and I haven't seen anyone go through all of the content that might even seem a little tedious. But, Gwennan's post on her 2017 bullet journal made me fall in love with the idea of having one. I'm taking a fortnight off of everything when I go on holiday and I'm SO tempted to use this time to really get into bullet journalling. Safe to say I've bookmarked her post for reference.
And finally we have Fii, aka Little Miss Fii. Recently I've been obsessed with the idea of visiting South Korea. Partly because I found out you can ski there - how cool is that? Fii's recently moved over there, and so all of her posts are giving me some serious wanderlust at the moment. My absolute favourite so far has to be her post on visiting a meerkat cafe. I mean, I didn't even know they existed, but now I NEED to go to one. How cute would it be to sip on some green tea and watch the meerkats play? This is 100% on my bucket list now.
Which bloggers have you been loving this month?
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8 ways to deal with homesickness

Eight months ago I packed a truckload of stuff my bags and moved an hour and a half away from the town I'd called home for the last four years. Although the move was exciting - it signalled the start of my life away from uni and my parents as a 'real adult', it was also terrifying. The town I needed to start calling home contained no one for me apart from my boyfriend: not one single family member, friend or even acquaintance I could call on. So, for the last eight months, as I've been adjusting to my new life, I've been hit with waves of homesickness, both for my university town, with all the friends I'd left behind, and the town I grew up in, where my family remains. These are the top ten things that I've found really help when homesickness overwhelms you:
1.) Get in touch with people you miss. This sounds simple, but it's one I kept forgetting to do, and it made me even more lonely. Drop them a Facebook message, and check in with how they're getting on. You can chat about what's changing back at home, and re-connect with your home-town that way.
2.) Re-visit your home town. Just because you've moved away doesn't mean you're gone forever. Go back and see everyone every so often, it'll help you to stay in touch with them. Revisit your old stomping grounds and discover what's new.
3.) Connect with your new town. There's only so much looking back into the past that will really help. Discover quirky new restaurants, or take a wander to the local parks. The release of Pokemon Go at the same time as me moving helped wonders in getting me out and about, and discovering new places in my new town.
4.) Don't isolate yourself. For ages I felt like an outsider in the town I moved to, and I really didn't make too many attempts to get to know people. This month I've met up with two local bloggers for coffee and joined a gym to enlarge my social circle here.
5.) Talk about how you feel. Whether it's to somebody living with you, or someone you've left behind. Express how you're feeling about the move, and they may have some suggestions or ideas to perk you up.
6.) Take some time out. Acknowledging that you feel homesick is fab, but it's important to recognise that it can have a massive toll on how you're feeling. Take an evening off of chores or hobbies, and just chill out. Make your favourite food, stick on a favourite film and consider why you're feeling homesick, and what might help: is it because you're missing someone in particular? Or a favourite place to go? Or just the comfort of being there?
7.) Engage in some 'home comfort'activities. You know the ones I mean: popping on a onesie, ordering a dominoes and binge watching some Netflix. Exactly as you would have done when you're feeling a bit down where you used to live. Just because you've moved doesn't mean everything has to change.
8.) Put up your homely accents asap. Moving to a new home can make everything feel a bit sterile and bare. Once you've got the main bits of furniture sorted, put things up that make the space feel a bit more 'you'. Get those candles out, pop your favourite bedding on and hang your photo frames up.
Have you moved away from home recently? What did you find helped you?   Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Dealing with Weight Gain Part Six: Fat Shaming Comments

This is now the sixth installment in my dealing with weight gain series, although I haven't blogged about it in quite a few months. This was a post that I never envisioned writing, but after receiving some nasty comments from someone close over summer I couldn't ignore it. In the last five parts I've discussed: a general look at weight gain, blogger confidence, being on a budget, stretch marks and avoiding extremes. I actually started this little project over a year ago, and realistically, I hoped that I wouldn't be sat here writing about it now. I had hoped that I would have gone down to a healthier weight for my size, especially with a big holiday looming, but it just hasn't happened. And that's okay.

Can I be a strong woman without being independent?

This post has been loitering around in my drafts (unwritten I might add, but with the idea there) for months, but it seems important now more than ever. The recent Women's Marches against Trump and his policy have seen a weird strike back, with a whole load of people asking 'why did their husbands let them out'. In a disturbing way it's a little reminiscent of the old classic, 'who let the dogs out?', so why are people asking that about women? Everyone who joined in on the marches is simply exercising their autonomous right to go out and do what they believe in, and yet it's caused such controversy.

10 Crucial Blogging Tips I learnt in 2016

The world of blogging has changed so much since I started my lil' blog two years ago. Microblogging has started to be a thing that people adopt over 'traditional' blogging; the photography most bloggers put out there is insane and there's a few more expectations placed on the average blogger.
This time last year was the start of six months out of work for me for my mental health. Fighting my anxiety, trying not to relapse with self harm and still continue a normal daily life just got a whole lot too much. Thankfully I had a strong support system to help me out mentally and financially; without them I don't know what I would have done. 
I used some of the time I had to work on doing a buttload of research into how to improve my blog. At that time I was churning out random spur of the moment posts that I usually had to force myself to think of. My blogging was irregular, my photography was pretty awful, despite having a nice camera, and I wasn't interacting with other bloggers at all. Pinterest, 'how to blog' style posts and inspirational flatlays became my new best friends, and eventually I learnt some things which now I just wish I had spent the time looking into a year earlier. 
1.) Don't force content. If you're not interested in a post you're writing, then why the hell would your audience be? If you're stuck for inspo then take a week off, or a month off, or however long you need. Wait for your mojo to come back to you.
2.) Spreadsheets are your best friend. I'm thinking of doing a whole post on this one because it absolutely revolutionized the way I organise my blog. I have each month laid out, I fill in blog post ideas when they come to me, I can colour code things according to theme. It makes me feel pretty darn professional.
3.) Get your butt onto Pinterest, and make your blog post images pinnable! Pinterest is something that I've only got into this past year, but it's been so helpful. I've got a whole board on blog post ideas posts people have written, one for general blog aids and a whole load of pretty ones for general photography inspo. I always try to pin posts I've enjoyed reading, and it's so frustrating when you want to share that post via Pinterest and the blogger hasn't made their blog pin friendly! It's an extra platform to drive traffic to your blog from, and if you're lucky it can be really easy for a post to go viral on there. Check out my beginner's guide to using Pinterest if you're stuck. 
4.) A media kit is always useful to have on the back burner. Earlier this year a brand asked me for my media kit ... I didn't have one. Cue hours of panicked searches on 'how to make a good media kit' and 'what is a media kit?'. Even if you don't want to have it made public on your blog, it's just handy to have in case anyone asks for it. I've actually written a post on how to make one here. 
5.) Make your social media platforms recognisably linked to your blog. This was a hard one to word, and I'm sorry. What I mean in essence is to have a coherent 'branding' across them all, though I hate using that word. Having a similar handle or username on the different platforms that resonates with the name of your blog makes it much easier for other bloggers to remember who you are and connect with you on various types of social media. You could even extend this to do things like sharing your Instagram posts on Twitter and Facebook. That way you direct traffic between your social media accounts and you may gain a larger following/more views.
6.) Twitter chats are fab. My personal favourites are the #fblchat and #thegirlgang chat. These are usually filled with lots of positivity and inspiration. You can get to know a whole load of other bloggers through this, and it makes the whole process of sitting behind your laptop and writing feel a lot less lonely. There are a whole tonne of these chats out there, and you could probably sit in them all evening every evening, so it's best to give them all a whirl and see which ones you want to stick to.
7.) Get your own domain name. In case you don't know how to do this one (I didn't), then I've got a step by step guide on how to do it in this post. You know all of those Moz updates that people tweet about every month or so? You basically need a domain name to get involved in that. The Moz update shows how good your domain authority is. A lot of brands will only use bloggers in collaborations once they have their own domain, and some even insist on using bloggers with a certain domain or higher. I'm not saying you should just do this for the collabs, as it can also be a chance for a rebrand. I was a bit sick of my old blog address (http://nourishmeclean.blogspot.co.uk) because it just didn't fit with my brand anymore. Originally Nourish ME was all about clean eating and having a healthy diet, but as I moved away from that, the 'clean' part just seemed a bit odd. So, when I got my own domain it became www.nourishmeblog.co.uk.
8.) Update your old posts. Posts from a year or two or even longer ago can be pretty cringe. Rubbish photos, a tendency not to proofread and an incoherent format are all things that can be solved fairly easily. A little photo re-edit, some new wording, and maybe even a new title can make old content feel brand new. This is especially useful if you've run out of inspiration and don't want to make new content. 
9.) Try new things with photography. There's a massive line between being inspired by someone and simply stealing their style. If I'm stuck for Instagram or blog photo ideas, I tend to have a look at a few of my favourite bloggers' accounts to see what kind of props people are using at the moment, the kind of backgrounds that are popular, and to investigate how people are using diffferent types of lighting. If you've never tried a flatlay before, then why not give that a go? Or go out and take some landscape style photos. At the moment I'm working on building up flatlays to make them bigger and more detailed.
10.) Blog for yourself, not other people. This is an odd one I'll admit, but oh-so true. Your readers are important, obvs, but it'll become noticeable if the content you're making is something you're not interested in. Be passionate, be bold, and remember that you're the content creator here.
What blogging tips did you learn over the last year?
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10 Budget-Friendly Hobbies to Start in 2017

There's so much 'New Year New Me' stuff floating about the internet right now that I find pretty demoralising. For starters, I don't want a new me. I want to improve the old me. Trying to recreate myself in someone else's image, or start again from scratch isn't going to work. How am I meant to get rid of all of my past experiences and turn myself into a completely different person? I just can't. So, a lot of my resolutions involve challenges that I'm placing for myself, and include continuing or starting up a few hobbies that I want to pursue this year. Here's my list of 10 hobbies you could start in 2017 too that won't break the bank:
1.) Learn a new language. Yes, this sounds bloody expensive, but have you heard of a gorgeous little app called Duolingo? It basically lets you learn a language completely free of charge. You're not just stuck to translating text either. It involves listening to speech and typing it out both in your language and the one you're learning, mini vocab tests where you pair words up, and tests for your pronunciation, amongst other things. It also updates you each time you become one percent more fluent and you can add it to your LinkedIn profile. (This isn't a #spon by the way, I just love the app).
2.) Start puzzling. I know this sounds super lame, but I find doing puzzles so cathartic. The act of sorting all of the pieces out and building a fuller picture gradually helps me to completely chill out.
3.) Get involved with mindfulness colouring. This is basically my favourite trend, ever. I've got a little collection of colouring books now and filling them in makes me feel so creative. I'm not brilliant at anything arty, but I LOVE doing this, especially in my new Wuthering Heights colouring book.
4.) Help out the local wildlife. I've kick-started this with having a bird-feeder in my garden (that and the food cost me about £3 in total). Plant some things, help out with fundraising for wildlife charities, or even volunteer at a local rehab centre for injured wildlife. This is such a nice idea for a hobby and I really want to get more involved.
5.) Yoga. There's this weird perception that you need to be a white, thin, rich woman to do yoga, but it has benefits for everyone, and you don't need a huge budget to do it. Yoga with Adriene YouTube videos are where it's at for me, but if you don't enjoy her methods as a teacher then there's a whole world of yoga YouTube videos out there. I bought a £5 yoga mat to got started and I haven't paid a penny since then whilst doing yoga for the past two years.
6.) Start the 1001 books challenge. There's a list of 1001 books to read before you die. I reckon I've probably read ten. You can buy the book which has the list in or find it for free online and get cracking.
7.) Do some creative journalling. I've got the 'Start Where You Are' journal and it's fab for completing each night before sleep. It contains a whole range of creative ways to think about things. Alternatively, you could start your own bullet journal, or use something like a 'Wreck This Journal' for a bit of fun. 
8.) Pinterest DIYS. I have a whole Pinterest board of these waiting for me to try, but I just keep forgetting to find the time for them. Spruce up your home with some cheap DIYs, or even just get crafty.
9.) Blogging. You all knew this was coming, didn't you? Although blogging can be costly, you don't *have* to spend anything on it. Write about what you love, take pictures if you want, and share your thoughts with the world.
10.) Re-learn the art of letter writing. This one is something I want to keep up in 2017. Snail mail is so cute, and I love getting it through my post box. Pick up a writing set in the sales, or just use a pen and some blank paper and let the people you love know they're being thought of!
So there we have it, 10 hobbies for 2017 that won't bankrupt you. Are you starting any new hobbies this year?
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10 Things I learnt living in the countryside

I've always been a suburbs kind of gal. That is, until I had no choice about it and had tovlive in the countryside for a few months earlier this year. Here's what I learnt:
1.) It's not silent. Dammit TV shows, you had me duped (again). I lost count of the number of times I woke up to screeching owls, cat fights, or a cow having a little mooing session.
2.) I really hate bugs. Leaving your windows open at night is basically an invitation for the entire wilderness to come in. I have not missed moths or daddy long legs flying around me 24/7.
3.) Everyone wants to chat. I'm used to not knowing any of my neighbours' names, let alone their life histories. Here even the postman knew who I was. My stranger danger anxiety was on a full-time high.
4.) Everyone has pets. Okay, this part I loved. All the neighbours had dogs, cats or both, as well as a myriad of other little creatures. You were basically never more than two feet away from a friendly little stroke. My bunny wasn't quite as impressed as me with this though, hehe.
5.) I really, REALLY like fast internet. This was basically the bane of my life for those few months. It took forever to even upload a blog photo. And YouTube? A seven hour upload time for a ten minute video is simply not okay.
6.) Phone signal is actually pretty handy. Especially when you're job hunting. Unlike with the internet situation, I simply had no signal whatsoever. No signal, no mobile data, no access to the outside world.
7.) Nature controls our lives. Living in towns and cities has given me this false illusion that we control nature. Being in a raging storm in an outbuilding in the middle of the countryside however, really showed me how wrong I was.
8.) Nature can be truly beautiful. I've never really seen a sun setting without buildings being all up in my grill. I've got a little collection of gorgeous photos of colourful sunsets from this summer, which are completely unobstructed by architecture.
9.) I don't like being isolated. I'm such an introvert that I thought I would love to be out in the middle of nowhere, without having to see and talk to people all of the time. But I actually hated it. I felt so alone and missed the hustle and bustle of normal life.
10.) I really kind of like my boyfriend. Shoddy internet, no phone signal and living in one room in the middle of nowhere for four months taught me a whole lot. Mostly though, I realised that my relationship is strong, and I love being in it. We survived that without murdering each other, so we can survive anything, right?
I hope you enjoyed this post! Have you ever lived in the countryside?
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