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30 Day Challenge: No. 1

So there is this thing that people seem to be really keen on, which is a 30 day challenge. People are constantly going on about how they changed their life, and how everyone needs to do a thirty day challenge. Well, here I am, me giving it a go.

But the big problem for me, is deciding what I want the challenge to be. And at my desk, there is a sticky note of all sorts of ideas that I’ve had sitting there since the beginning of January this year. And until now, I haven’t touched it.

Side note, I just remembered that in my April bujo spread, I remembered that I already wrote down my challenge. So that saves me the hassle of trying to think of something right now.

For my 30 day challenge, I decided to ride 30 kms in 30 days. I think this is the most relevant to my current living condition as I’m stuck at home for the next month. At least one month anyway. And I can guarantee that if I didn’t set this as my challenge, is that I would do literally no exercise. So I guess I should take some kind of initiative to do some form of exercise.

Now I’m not really a health or fitness guru or anything, and quite frankly I resent exercise. But, I love completing things. I might start something and not finish it for ages, but I will eventually. Because I hate unfinished things. So that is kind of my incentive to complete this task. There you have it.

I think around halfway through the month, I might give you an update on how everything is going, and at the end of the month I will share my thoughts on how it went.

One final thing, I know that 1 km a day isn’t that impressive to some of you, but for a very reluctant exerciser, so it’s either this or nothing.

Do you have a 30 day challenge? What is it?

Thank you very much for reading, and I’ll talk to you again in the next post! Don’t forget to wash your hands!

April Bullet Journal Spread

This month, I am going to get ahead of time, and make this post on the 25th of March, and post this on time for once.

PLEASE NOTE: This is what I took inspiration from. This is not my own work and all credit goes to this person. My monthly spread is only based off this picture.

So to start off, I planned out the monthly spread in pencil.

Here is a close up of some of the completed boxes

Here is the finished spread. I couldn’t decide on what I wanted to put in the box next to ‘blog goals’, so I guess I can just put whatever in that later. Also I know that some of the boxes are quite messy, but it doesn’t really matter that much.

Then I really wanted some habit trackers, but I couldn’t decide on what I wanted to put underneath it, so I thought I would put a little homework tracker under as some inspiration for those who will have to do online school now. I thought it might be an easy way to keep on top of any homework that you might get.

Also, I started putting in rectangles to individually mark out the days, but I decided that I wanted there to be circles where possible, so I changed them to circles.

The finished spread. I stuffed up one of the lines on the homework tracker (wow I mean it’s not like we could tell or anything, thank you captain obvious.)

Then I went on to planning out the weekly spread in pencil.

The finished spread. I decided that I wanted to write the days of the week in capitals, rather than lower case. Useless fact of the day: In French, for the days of the week, you don’t have to start it with a capital. Unless it is at the start of a sentence, they don’t need a capital.

Overall, I am really happy on how this months spread turned out. I am happy with the colour choice, and just everything about it. I can’t wait to actually use it. I’m so done with March.

I’m also really proud of myself for actually getting this post done, and posted on time. I have made all the previous months spreads, but I just didn’t write the post in time, and well, never posted them.

Thank you very much for reading, stay healthy, and I’ll talk to you in the next post! Don’t forget to was your hands!

Under Lock-down TBR

As I am sure you are all aware, there is a pandemic going around, and we are all being advised to stay in our houses during this time. I’m not going to go too far into detail about it, because I’m sure you are getting updated on the latest news somewhere.

So what are we going to do in this time? I know people will have to work/ school from home, so that will take up a majority of time. However school holidays are soon, so you will have to spend your entire holidays at home. All I can advise is spend this time wisely. Don’t use it as an excuse to do nothing. Make yourself proud by cleaning your house, get on top of chores and so on.

However, in the time that you have spare time, I recommend that you read. At least that is what I am going to be doing anyway. So, I have a list of books that I want to read in this time I get to spend at home, and here it is.

(Also, I just thought I’d say, this is one of the best things to happen for us introverts. I mean, it isn’t good that people are getting sick, that’s quite serious. But we now have a reason to not leave our houses. People won’t question why you didn’t go out the entire holidays. Please back me up on this one.)

Lock-down TBR

The Good Thieves – Katherine Rundell

I have owned this book for quite some time, and I really want to read it. I am really excited to finally get a chance to read it, and I hope it lives up to its expectations. I have read the first few ~~pages~~ chapters, and from what I have read, it is a pretty good book. I think it will be one of the first books I read in lock-down, so expect a book review coming soon-ish

The Library of Lost Things – Laura Taylor Namey

I’m not going to lie here, but I was swayed to buy this book purely by the name and the little blurb thing on the front. I have also started reading this book, and it is SO good. The plot seems really unique, and I also just cannot wait until I get to read this. It is a contemporary novel, and we all know how I feel about those. If you don’t, I’ll leave a link to what I’m talking about here.

Agatha Oddly (1&2) – Lena Jones

I know these are considered ‘kids books’ (or ‘Books for primary school kids’), but I honestly don’t care what you think. The plot seems really intriguing and I have big expectations for this book. And you guessed it, I have read the first couple of pages, but then just stopped reading it for whatever reason. I seem to have a bad track record for that. Which I’ll make another post on later. But I don’t have the third book in the series, so even if the first two are terrible (Which I’m sure they aren’t) I will still have to buy book three when book shops open again.

Please note, that this isn’t even half of my TBR pile. And I don’t even think it is barely a quarter, but these are just the few that I am really itching to just have in my hands reading.

There is this other book series that I am really wanting to read, but my local library shut down before I got to borrow it. So I am going to have to wait another few months before I get to read it. And the problem is that I can’t remember the title of the series, so I won’t be able to find an online copy. (And before you ask, yes, I did want to borrow ten or so books from a library before they locked down so I could have an excuse to have them for three+ months and not get a fine.)

Thank you very much for reading, stay healthy, and I’ll talk to you in the next post. And don’t forget to wash your hands!

Devils Ivy

Today I got a new plant! I am so excited about it, as I have wanted to get a Devils ivy for a long time now, and I finally got one.

Disclaimer: Some of this post was written a while ago, and that means some things might be a little out of date by now.

So to start, I love Devils Ivy, otherwise called the Golden Pothos. I love the shape of the leaves, the colour of them, how they are so easy to care for, and so much more. They are really good for the air and honestly, mine just makes me so happy.

You can keep them inside in a dark corner, or close to a window, and they will still be happy. However, if they are in a corner, make sure it gets some sunlight every so often. That way, they won’t become leggy.

Latest update:

So I’ve had my devils ivy for about three months or so now, and yesterday it gave me a huge scare. I haven’t watered it at all in the time I have had it, and it was doing well, but of course, the one time someone looks at it, it starts to die.

All the leaves started going all floppy and a leaf went yellow. My first thought was that it was root rot, even though I’ve never watered it ever. But I drenched it in water and convinced myself that that would kill it entirely. But in the morning the leaves had sprung right up and now it looks just as healthy as it first did.

So that is one lesson learned; water a devils ivy around every two and a half months, to stop it from dying.

To water a devils ivy, make sure that there are drainage holes because they hate standing in water.

That’s all I have to update you on, and I might make another post focusing on the care guide for devils ivy later.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next post!

I have three new Aloe Veras?

This will be a short post, but I think it is worth sharing with you guys.

So overnight, my Aloe Vera sprouted little babies at its base. I didn’t really notice anything, until the other day when I went to check on it and there were three little sproutlings. And needless to say, I’m excited.

I will have to transplant them moderately soon-ish, because they are quite big considering they have only been there for three days. So I guess this means my aloe is healthy? However I don’t know how to do that, so I have to do a lot of research.

(BTW I am aware that these photos are terrible quality.)

I have no idea why this is, and if you know why, please let me know.

That is all for this post. I did say it was going to be short, but I thought I might give you guys a bit of an update.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next post!

Writer’s Block; Part 1.

This is a two part post, in this post, I will discuss what Writer’s Block is, and in the next post I will talk about methods to remove it from your life entirely.

What is Writer’s Block?

Basically, it is when you can’t think of anything to write about. It can last a week, or even a month, or just to the point when you think, “What’s the point. I’m not a good writer. I should just give up writing.”

Writer’s Block is actually quite a big thing, and it can sometimes have a negative affect on you. A survey proved that people that have suffered from writer’s block tend to get it from a fear of failure, and high expectations that they don’t think they can meet. And that can be very un-motivating, which in the long term, you never get to write that story that you have always wanted to write. (That was not at all aimed at me who gives advice on writing stories, and has a story that I really want to write but I am procrastinating from doing that.) I for one, can say that I am currently going through a stage of Writer’s Block, that kind of feels bad about not writing, but then I tell myself that it is fine and I have a reason that I’m not writing, even if I don’t.

Now that March has already started, I feel really annoyed at myself that I have done nothing to my story that I want to write, and now I feel like I have so much to catch up on, because I’ve missed two months of writing. You see what my problem is? In my defence, I have been quite busy these past few days, (or do I just want to believe that?) so I don’t really think that I really had a chance to really get stuck back into writing.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it for this post. Now that I am re reading it, I didn’t really explain what Writer’s Block is, and just went on a rant about how I’m trying to validate the fact that I’m really lazy and can’t be bothered to write a story.

In the next post, I’ll try to make it a bit more structured, and less rant-like.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next post!

(P.s. I wrote about this topic because I didn’t know what to write about, and I thought, “Hmm, I don’t know what to write about. How about I write about that?”)

Book Review: ‘It Sounded Better in My Head’

WARNING!

The following post may contain spoilers to what happens at the end of the book. I will try and minimise the spoilers, but if you are actually considering reading this book, I don’t recommend that you keep reading. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

‘It Sounded Better in My Head’ by Nina Kenwood has been one of my favourite books I have ever read. And that is not an exaggeration. It is one of the most real stories I have ever read, following the life of our main character; Natalie.

Natalie is a very sensitive person, and when her parents announce they are splitting up, she takes it very hard. Which is understandable. She finds out that they have been no longer together for ten months, so that makes the entire situation worse. Natalie had been lied to for almost an entire year. By her parents of all people.

Her friends, Lucy and Zach have recently gotten together. Which means they are spending a lot more time together, and that makes Natalie feel rather left out.

Throughout the book, Natalie changes a lot. She goes to a party for once, even though she didn’t really want to go, she started talking to Alex, Zachs’ older brother. And she finds an unexpected romance in between everything.

Overall, I think that this is a very honest, and genuine book, which is actually mildy based on Nina Kenwoods life. Which in some aspects, is a little sad. That a real human had to go through some of the things that Natalie did.

You get very attached to the characters in the book, and I was utterly heartbroken when I finished the book. Like with ‘as happy as here’, I read it for hour upon hour, because I just couldn’t seem to put it down.

One thing that I especially want to bring to everyone’s attention, is that the plot was actually follow-able. And what I mean by that, (you will probably see me talk about this a lot in book reviews) is through out the entire book, you understand completely what is going on. Or at least I did anyway. Most books that I have read, will at some point have a time when I’m confused about where the characters are, or who is saying what, and so on. The only time I was confused, was very minor at the start, where I had trouble remembering what the characters names were, and who Alex was, but it didn’t take me that long at all to remember them all.

The only other piece criticism is that I thought that the ending dragged on a bit. But it wasn’t really that bad. I was a little tired of the on and off thing between Alex and Natalie, and how there was another party, but having said that, there was a big plot point that came from that, so I’m not really too upset about it.

The problem that I am now faced with, which isn’t the books fault, is getting people to read it. I completely understand if this book isn’t your cup of tea, but I think everyone should read it. It genuinely is one of the best books I have ever read, and I don’t say that too often. One thing that I am often faced with, is that according to the people that think they know everything, is that your favourite books must be classics, like Little Women, or a Shakespeare play, or Alice in Wonderland. And it might just be me, but I really don’t like those books that much. I like new, modern, contemporary books. I just find them a lot more enjoyable to read, and if you don’t agree with me, that is 100% OK, just don’t hate me for not wanting to read a book from 100 years ago. (That sounded a lot more passive aggressive than I intended it to be.)

Anyway, to stop people from commenting spoilers, I have turned off comments, because this is such a good book, and think that everyone needs to read it, but of course, it’s OK if it doesn’t sound like something that you would enjoy.

I have kept this book review quite short, but that is because I don’t want to spoil anything too much, and to keep everyone in suspense, they have to read it for themselves to find out what happens in the end. But holy moly is it a good book. And if you are one of those people that has read it, all I have to say is; You are now my best friend. That’s all.

That is all for now! Thank you for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next post!

P.s. I just thought I would let you guys know that it took me so long to realise that the silhouettes on the cover are the silhouettes of the people on the cover. And I am ashamed to admit how long it took me to realise that.

Book Review: ‘as happy as here’

(Before you all ask why, the book title has no capitals, so that’s why I didn’t capitalise it.)

So, I was going to save this for a different post, where I recommend books and give a brief review, but I think that this deserves its own separate post. I finished reading ‘as happy as here’ yesterday, and I urgently needed to make a post about this, so here it is.

WARNING!

So to start off, I’ll explain how I came across this book;

I was wondering around the library, and ‘as happy as here’ caught my eye. I had seen this book everywhere in all these popular bookshops, and everyone was raving on about it. If I’m being totally honest, I thought that it would be one of those books that have the exact same plot as all the others. If that makes any sense. Eventually, the hype went down and I totally forgot about it. So seeing it in the library I thought, “Hmmm, maybe I might borrow it, and see if it’s any good.” I didn’t get to read it that much the next few days because I was really busy. However, I had nothing planned for the weekend and I decided I might as well start reading it. I had very low expectations for it, but I just couldn’t seem to put it down. So I kept reading. And I read it some more until eventually I had to stop for a toilet break, got a snack, and then I kept reading. And then I finished it. Can I just say, I am very impressed by ‘as happy as here’. So that kind of means, I read for about 4 hours, with one toilet break in there.

So the start of the story introduces how Evie got hospitilised, how she met Lucy, and how Jemma is relevant. They all share a hospital ward, and you can pretty quickly guess the type of person that they are right from the get go. Lucy is the quiet, artistic one, Evie is the peacemaker that tries to do whats best for all of them and makes sure she stays out of peoples way, and Jemma, the loud, obnoxious one.

One thing that I think Jane Godwin did on purpose, was to make Jemma really unlikable. Usually when authors do this, it doesn’t actually have the desired effect on me, and I end up liking the mean character more than the one that’s supposed to be likable. But Jane Godwin did this particularly well. Jemma was just so annoying, and loud, to the point where it actually reminded me of people who I’ve met before, so maybe that’s why I found her so real.

Moving on, not too much later in the book, the actual plot of the story really takes place. Evie is sitting in her hospital bed, staring out the window, when she sees a man in the park, burying something and putting a newspaper in the bin. He then runs off, not aware that Evie has seen him. She tells Lucy and Jemma, and Jemma being Jemma, she decided that Lucy had to go and investigate what he put in the bin. And after a bit of argueing, Lucy goes out of the hospital to get it.

I am not going to write about what happens in all the chapters, I’m just going to give a brief description on what happens at the end of the book.

After that, they are in the hospital solving the mystery of who is burying what in the park, and what they are doing it for. And throughout the book, you start to see some minor character development in Jemma, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Towards the end of the book, they discover that the gang of people will be robbing one of their hospital friends house. So they all set off to catch them in the act so that they can call the police in time. However, that is when the story takes an unforseen turn.

I for one didn’t see it coming, and I am still in so much shock that it happened. I’m not sure if I should include it in this post or not. If you have read the book, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.

My Opinions

I honestly enjoyed this book so much. I thought the plot was very well thought out, and the way it is structured is perfect for that story. I definitely think the way it was written was also quite flawless. There were so many things to this story that I think made it so unique, and different to anything I have evr read before.

In most books, there is always an antagonist and a protagonist, and in this case, I guess Jemma was the antagonist. In most of the books I have read, the antagonist ends up becoming really nice and friendly. Which is a bit cliche, but I don’t mind it that much. In ‘as happy as here’, Jemma kind of stayed the same throughout most of the book, and it isn’t until the ‘thing’ happens, that you realise that she was just so misunderstood, and that she wrote letters to herself pretending that they were from a brother that she didn’t even have. She also helped Evie throughout the book, even though Jemma was mean about it, she was so glad that she could be with people who actually cared about her, which was probably the first time any one actually had.

Overall, I thought this book was an amazingly written book, and it really got you thinking about some stuff. At the end of the book, it even asks you questions about what you think about the book and why what happened like it did. And until the ‘thing’ happened to Jemma, you didn’t even realise how much of an emotional attachment you had to her.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next post!