mrsjennyws

I hope everyone had a lovely long Easter weekend! It's a shame it went so quickly, and it's also delayed me posting, mainly because I sat back and didn't do very much with my weekend, which was FANTASTIC.

Right onto the actual post...

I've done all of my 30 Before 30 posts on my old blog, up until now. It's officially transferred over the mrsjennyws! I've linked the old posts at the bottom of this one in case you want to catch up.

This was my original list...I'm not doing too badly. Well, actually as only six things have been crossed off the list, that's pretty crap. And with my 27th birthday coming up this weekend, time is of the essence!

A few of the things I've crossed off. Getting engaged, getting married, buying a house and going camping!

30 Before 30

1. Get Engaged
2. Get Married
3. Have a Baby
4. Buy a House
5. Save Enough for Our Wedding
6. Have £10k in Savings
7. Earn at least £30k/year
8. Work for Myself
9. Be a Stay at Home Mummy
10. Buy a Mulberry Bag
11. Write a Book
12. Write a Recipe Book
13. Visit Australia
14. Visit New York
15. Visit Italy
16. Go to Harry Potter in Florida
17. Visit Disney
18. See the Northern Lights
19. Swim with Dolphins
20. Go on a Hot Air Balloon Ride
21. Grow my own Fruit, Veg & Herbs
22. Go Camping
23. Have a Spa Day
24. Crochet or Knit a Baby Blanket
25. Learn to Drive
26. Run a Marathon
27. Own a Pet
28. Cook through a Cook Book
29. Do a 365 Project
30. Own less 'Stuff'

Any excuse to post some more wedding photos! Photography by Trevor Godfree

I'm thinking that, if it's not cheating, that I may need to amend some of the items on the list. Basically because I've realised that some of those things are just NOT going to happen.

In terms of no. 8 and 9, I would absolutely love for these to actually work out. I just don't think they will (unless this blog magically takes off), but I'm going to leave them on there with hope.
I also don't think that 26 will happen, I'm too lazy. And 24 will DEFINITELY not happen, I've had a go at the whole crochet thing and it was just awful, I'm not capable enough.

I need to swap these out for two new tasks, but I'm struggling to think what. As I said, I do want this list to be somewhat managable, I know that it needs to push me too, but I don't see the point of things being on there that I know will NOT happen, that's just a downer.
This is what I've come up with:

    24. Manage my Grief
I know that this might sound strange, but it's been nearly 2 years since my dear old Daddy passed away and yet there are still days when I feel like it happened a month ago rather than 2 years. I know that it's completely normal, that you can't rush this process; and that when the person is that close to you it can make the whole process worse. But I've realised a few things recently about this, which are that I'm not coping 100% and that it's made me an angrier person. I'm hoping that I can start to deal with this better so that it doesn't affect me in such a negative way and that I can just enjoy the time that I had with my wonderful Daddy.

My Daddy

    26. Keep Blogging
Again, a bit of an off the wall one, but at the moment I really enjoy this blog, I've already experienced and lulls that come with in (in terms of motivation, but maybe that's just me generally), but I still enjoy it. Having a little piece of me out there, a corner of the internet that's my own and something that I can focus on. So if I can keep this going until I'm (at least) 30 then I will be chuffed with myself!


There we have it. I feel like they're good things to add, not just a boring old task that can be ticked off, but something to work towards and a way to improve myself.

Here's the updated list:

1. Get Engaged
2. Get Married
3. Have a Baby
4. Buy a House
5. Save Enough for Our Wedding
6. Have £10k in Savings
7. Earn at least £30k/year
8. Work for Myself
9. Be a Stay at Home Mummy
10. Buy a Mulberry Bag
11. Write a Book
12. Write a Recipe Book
13. Visit Australia
14. Visit New York
15. Visit Italy
16. Go to Harry Potter in Florida
17. Visit Disney
18. See the Northern Lights
19. Swim with Dolphins
20. Go on a Hot Air Balloon Ride
21. Grow my own Fruit, Veg & Herbs
22. Go Camping
23. Have a Spa Day
24. Manage my Grief
25. Learn to Drive
26. Keep Blogging
27. Own a Pet
28. Cook through a Cook Book
29. Do a 365 Project
30. Own less 'Stuff'

Some of the places on my travel list. Picture Credits: Rome and New York

Now fingers crossed I can get a few more things ticked off soon...if only I'd added visiting Canada to the list! There is definitely a bit of overlap with my Life (and 2016) Goals, so I've planned well there!


30 Before 30 posts from my old blog
30 Before 30
30 Before 30: Behind the List, Part 1
30 Before 30: Behind the List, Part 2
30 Before 30: Behind the List, Part 3
30 Before 30: An Update


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Before you say, yes I am aware that we are basically half way through February now...

I was looking through my Evernote (where I store all my blog drafts and general notes about everything) and came across a list of goals that I wrote for 2016. I'm pretty sure I had intended to blog about them, but with the change of blog I never got round to it.

2016 Goals

Buy only one piece of high end makeup a month
Well this goal has failed already, in January alone I bought a Stila palette, 2 MAC lipsticks, YSL Touche Eclat and Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder.

Oops.The last two were on the last day of January, so does that count if I don't buy anything in February? I am going to try a little harder not to spend as much on makeup this year, as last year I was building up a whole stash of makeup from nothing.

On the other hand, I'm doing this blog now and it is makeup related. So I can justify anything if I try hard enough, right?

Obviously this one will go on hold when I go to Canada/USA and buy ALL THE MAKEUP.

YSL Touche Eclat in 1 Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder in 101 Invisible Matte

Complete the 52 Weeks Saving Challenge

Again, another fail, so doing really well so far...

I did save the amount I needed to in January, but in February I had to spend all my savings to pay off my credit card (naughty) and now I'm scraping through February.I'm not sure whether I'll actually end up doing this in 2016, maybe 2017 is the year for that.
Maybe I'll move it to the Life Goals section.

Build up a pot of savings

The last one is kind of covered by this, but after I've saved up spending money for Toronto I'll be trying harder to put some proper savings away for the future (moving house, holidays, kids etc.), but also to have some money to buy the things I want, like a Mulberry and a Mac. I'm going to blog next week about my more general, non-makeup wishlist.

[Credit]

Work on decluttering

I have WAY too much stuff and I hold on to EVERYTHING. Everything means something to me, everything holds a memory and it means that we have a flat full of crap and loads of stuff still at my mum's. I'm getting better, slowly, but I want to try not to hold onto as many things. I might Marie Kondo that shiz, which ironically is an excuse for me buy another book!

Oh and if it's something to do with our Wedding or my Dad, then my grubby paws will clutch onto it forever.

Have a more stable weight

In 2013 I was overweight and unhappy about it, over the next year and a half, I lost 4 stone (56lbs) taking me from nearly 11 stone (150lbs) to just under 7 stone (92lbs).

Yes, yes, I know that reaction. The reaction I always get when people find out I weigh less than 7 stone. But I assure you I'm not underweight, my bones don't stick out and I eat like a bloody horse. I'm just tiny, I'm 5ft and I have a very small frame.

Last year in the lead up to the wedding my weight did fluctuate, but I knew I had to be a certain weight to fit into my dress. But now the wedding has passed and we had the honeymoon, followed by Christmas and I knew I could relax more, but it also meant my weight has crept up nearly half a stone.

This year I want to get back down to around what I was for the wedding and try and maintain that instead of yoyo-ing. My weight is still up from the honeymoon and Christmas, but at the moment I don't seem to be able to shake it, which is something I'm trying to deal with.

I will also add that I lost weight for me, and I am so much happier now. I also couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband.

Buy a Mulberry Bag

This might seem a little frivolous, but I've been wanting one of these bags for years and I feel like this is the year...this is the year that I will finally be able afford one! Well, let's hope I can. I'm going to do post with a more generalised (i.e. non-makeup) wishlist, so look out for that if you want to see which Mulberry bags are on my list.
All of them.

Make more of my life

This one sounds a little crazy I know, but read on and it might make sense.

Try harder with instagram and start blogging again - I feel like, for once, I'm actually getting somewhere with a goal/resolution I've made for myself. I've started a whole new blog, I'm trying to use instagram more and think about what I'm posting. I've rearranged by Pinterest and started a Twitter page, and I'm thinking about doing a Facebook page too. Yes I have barely 50 page views on most of my posts so far (except my February wishlist, which is storming ahead!) and I have 1 follower on Bloglovin (thank you!!!) but it's a start.

Get a new job, one that challenges me - I've been working on this too, I've been applying for jobs and I had an interview a couple of weeks ago (which I didn't get, which is a bit of a downer) and my current managers are SO supportive, it's truly amazing and I'm so lucky to have them. The problem is that in the 4 years I've been working since uni, I'm yet to have a job that properly challenges me. I spend most of my time sitting at my desk browsing the internet, or now, blogging. It may sound great, but let me tell you, it's not.

Prep for family life - I know how this sounds, I don't want to announce to the world that I'm desperate to get pregnant or that I'm definitely planning on popping out a little one soon, but I do know that my husband and I don't want to wait too long. So I'd like to be a bit more ready, healthy, know what supplements I'll need to take, having some savings etc.

So that's nearly enough what I wrote a month ago (edited slightly) when we started the year. I feel like I'm not doing too badly so far, yes some of them have been slightly ignored or broken, but I feel like the majority are achievable things for me and that they're things that I actually want to try and work towards.

Life Goals

I guess that some of these probably overlap with my 30 Before 30 on my old blog. I need to review and update it so that it's on this blog, but I'm going to include one here that isn't on the 30 Before 30.

Move to Australia

This is a real option for me and my husband. I'm actually an Australian National as well as being British. My Dad was Australian, born and raised. My Mum is English, but has Australian nationality from when she was living there and they got married. My parents registered me, my brother and sister as Australian citizens when we were born.

Which means I can get my passport and we can go, well as far as I'm aware. I think I may need to make a visit to Australia House.

We do need to go to Australia for a holiday first, my husband has never been and I think he needs to go before we make a huge life decision like this. Another great advantage we would have in moving there is that I have loads of family there and I feel like it would be really nice to have a support system in place before we go.

I also feel like it's something that my Dad would have been really pleased about, I mean sad that we'd be moving half way across the world, but I knew he always wanted to move back to Australia. I'd like to do it partly for him. 

I think that's it in terms of goals/resolutions for this year. I can't explain exactly why, but this year I feel much more fired up than usual.

I also just feel more positive, like more is achievable. It might just be because we're past the wedding and the move. Whilst the last couple of years have been full of amazing highs, getting engaged, buying our first home together and getting married, those things have come with pressures and restrictions. We had to save a huge amount for both the move and the wedding, both of which were very stressful in terms of savings and making decisions. And of course the wedding came with a whole string of people pleasing issues.

There's also been huge lows in the last few years, one really, which was my Dad passing away in 2014. I still can't believe that it's been nearly 2 years. It makes me upset to think that he hasn't been around for us buying our first place, getting engaged and married, things that he would have been so happy and proud.
But we did learn from everything that happened and we got engaged not long after his death because we knew that we wanted to get married and there was no point in wasting time. Life is precious.

Maybe it's because 2016 can be a fresh start for me, we're newly married, we have a new flat and we've shaken off the pressures of the move and wedding. It also means I can start looking for a new job.

I feel like these things mean that it's actually possible for me to start building up some good savings this year AND buy some of the 'big ticket' items that I really want. And after a year of solid saving (and now having nothing remaining), that's exciting for me.

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