Books I hope to get for Christmas 2016

Today I am going to talk about all the books I am hoping to get this Christmas. Christmas is scarily close, today is Wednesday, and Christmas is this Sunday so not far too go! But this morning I wrapped all my presents and I am done now. I just have to work two more shifts then it will be Christmas Day so I am happy. Anyway, lots of people have been asking me what books I would like so I have given them ideas, here is what I am hoping to get:

1. Harry Potter box set by J. K. Rowling

I am so excited for this! (Massive confession: I have never read the Harry Potter books, but 2017 is the year to start!) The box set is about £30 from Amazon but I am super excited to start, and everybody tells me I won’t be able to stop reading them till I’ve finished.

2. Eat Smart by Niomi Smart

This is a vegan recipe book by the youtuber Niomi Smart. I have been looking into veganism and vegan recipes for over a year now, and I also love this youtuber so much and find her so inspiring. So, I have asked for her new book which came out in September.

3. Throne of Glass #1 by Sarah J. Maas

EVERY booktuber seems to have read and loved this series. Not only have I never read this series, I have also never read anything by this author. So, I thought I would give it a go and I am hoping I’ll love this.

4. The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye

I have again heard amazing reviews of this over on BookTube and I thought I would try it. I am not overly into fantasy, but I think that’s because I have never read anything absolutely amazing and memorable in this genre. But everyone raves about this book (and throne of glass series) on BookTube so I thought I would try them.

5. A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir

I am currently reading An Ember in the Ashes #1 on my kindle, and I love it so far. I spoke a little bit more about this in my reading update I posted yesterday. But I would love to own the series in physical form as well, so I have asked for book 2 in hardback which I can read after I finish book 1 and then I will also buy book 1 in hardback when it is a little bit cheaper.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird: 50^th Anniversary Edition by Harper Lee

This is an absolute classic, and as I will mention in an upcoming post, I am planning on reading a lot more classics next year! This one, however, has been studied by so many in schools and colleges but mine never did, and I have never read it in my own time either. So, I would love to read this next year, even more so because I just bought my mum Jodi Picoult’s new book Small Great Things which is meant to be the ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ of our generation as it also deals with racism and is such a great novel.

7. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Mum and I were out Christmas shopping the other day and we wandered into the bookshop Foyles, where they were selling signed copies of the Essex Serpent. I have seen this book floating around in many bookshops and you can’t ignore a signed edition right? So, my mum bought it for me as Christmas present, the story sounded good at the time but right now I’ve forgotten what happens, so I will probably go in blind and hope for the best.

8. Finally, Practice Makes Perfect Italian Vocabulary by Daniela Gobetti

This is more of a textbook than an enjoyable read. However, one thing I have learnt at university studying languages is that they do nothing to help improve your vocabulary. This section is entirely down to you, and it is also an area I have been seriously lacking. So, hopefully this book will help me.

Those are all the books I hope to receive at Christmas! I am super excited for all this reading in the New Year. I certainly have a lot to read, as obviously Harry Potter is a long series, if I get into Throne of Glass, then that is also a long series, as well as all the smaller books in between. We shall see. Anyway, I absolutely love receiving new books and cannot wait to add these to my bookshelf!

Reading Update: Mid December

I have never done a post like this before but I thought today I would give you an update on what I am currently reading. (But as always, I will still post an end of month review as well as a rating of all the books I read that month). Now, I am completely awful when it comes to sticking with one book. I normally have a minimum of two books on the go, one paperback and one on my kindle.

So, on my kindle I am currently reading An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. This book has a couple of firsts for me: it is the first book I have read by this author and it is the first real fantasy book I have read and liked so far. I am 20% through and I totally love it. I have not read such a beautifully written and gripping story for a while. The characterisation is amazing and the plot is already so intricate and well put together. I also love a book with more than one perspective which this book has so that is another bonus. Overall I am really happy with this so far.

In paperback, I am reading Alice in Wonderland. I picked this up and Alice Through the Looking Glass in Oxford a few weeks ago (blog post here if you want to check it out) because I absolutely loved the editions and I have never read these books before. The book is very short, less than 200 pages long but I am finding it hard to finish it… because I do not love it. I feel this is awful to say because it is such a well loved classic by many, yet I do not feel the same. Having said this, I will still finish it because it is so short and I want to be able to say I have read it.

I am also reading The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. (I said I like to read more than one at a time.) I love starting new books, but I am not so great at finishing them.

However, my goal before the end of the year is to finish: An Ember in the Ashes (20% through), Alice in Wonderland (50% through), Alice through the Looking Glass (not started) and The Potion Diaries (75% through).  I definitely said I wasn’t good at finishing books.

I really would love to finish all these because I feel like it would wrap up this year nicely and I don’t really want to go into the new year with a massive to-be-read pile as well as half reading five books. I don’t mind waiting till 2017 to carry on with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night –Time because I haven’t really got into that one yet.

Finally, the last thing I want to mention today is that I have seen a few BookTubers recently all re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia books which has totally got me thinking about re-reading my own collection. Although these are children’s books, they are well loved by so many. I doubt I’ll be able to read the whole series (7 books) but I would love to try and start reading a couple maybe; especially as they are very short books.

So, all in all, LOTS to read before the end of the year!

November 2016 Goals

November is upon us, which means I need to set some goals for this month.

• Read at least two books.

I really want to get back into reading. I am near the end of one and a third through another, so I need to get these finished because I hate not finishing books. My to-be-read list is forever growing and I took last month off so no excuses this month.

• Drink a litre of water every day.

This goal was a great success last month and it is something I want to continue. Maybe after this month I will up this amount.

• Revise Italian vocabulary for at least ten minutes every day.

Yesterday I was thinking about how little vocabulary I know in Italian. This is extremely worrying seeing as I will be going there this time next year! I really need to up my game with how much work and effort I am putting in, so that I feel a lot more confident by next summer.

• Watch two Spanish films this month.

I think my biggest issue in Spanish right now is listening. But, I am also massively into films right now (I watched four films last Sunday), so I thought why not combine the two? I would love to watch more international films anyway seeing as I am going travelling next year and it would be good to improve my Spanish.

These are my four goals for November. Sometimes I add a goal on if I think of another in the next week or so, but these are my goals for now. At the end of November I will review these goals to find out how well I did.

October 2016 Goals Review

Today’s post is an overview of how well I did throughout October with my goals, which I wrote about here. But here is a quick recap:

• Read two books this month
• Revise Spanish/Italian for 30 minutes every day
• Eat healthier
• Drink a litre of water every day (I added this one after making the post).

Okay, goal number one was a complete failure. As I wrote about it here yesterday, I did not manage to finish one book in October, let alone two. This is the first time this has happened to me this year and I do not like it, so I am determined to get back into reading throughout November.

Goal number two was again not great. I started my second year at uni this month and I have been getting into a routine for that, as well as keeping on top of all the work (which there is a lot more of than last year), so I have been pretty busy with that. However, only today I was thinking about how much more work I need to put into my languages, as this time next year I will be on my year abroad. I need to get to work.

Goal number three was a reasonable success. I have been eating healthy lunches and dinners every night, however, recently I have been snacking on a lot of things I need to cut down on.

Number four was a success! I have drunk a litre of water every day this month. For someone like myself who before drunk hardly any water, this is a huge step forward for me and something I will definitely continue and hopefully improve on even more.

This is a quick summary of how I did throughout October. I didn’t set very many goals as I was just getting back into goal setting, and I wanted to keep it vague to make it a little easier. Next month I will be setting more specific goals regarding eating healthier, getting back into reading and improving my Spanish and Italian.

 

Productivity

Today has been a very good day. I have totally re-vamped my diet and my routine which may have been the reasons for my super healthy and productive day.

Today was the first day of my second year at university. I had a lecture from 9am-11am, which meant I had to leave the house by 8:40am. I set my alarm; however, I woke up half an hour before that which I always prefer. I love waking up naturally rather than to the sound of a beeping alarm. I then cooked porridge for breakfast with berries on top, got ready and left.

Just the fact I had been to a lecture and was already home by midday made me feel super happy and motivated. I am normally still asleep or in bed at this point. I was then inspired to go on a job hunt and so I filled out my application for Morrison’s which had been sitting in my room for a week. I got the bus with my housemate (who already works there) to go and hand my application in.

I then came home and created my first ever CV, except a smaller version. I did this because I want to go around all the cafes and restaurants in my new town at uni where I live to see if there are any jobs going. If yes then I can leave my CV with them with all my contact details on, educational and employment history and references. This made me feel massively productive.

Then to top off my job hunt day, I just got an email from one of my lecturers encouraging me to apply for the role of ‘student ambassador’ within the uni. I was very happy with this as she personally searched me out and sent me all the details and why she thinks I should go for it. I will probably apply within this week.

Finally, I feel like today has been great because I drank a litre bottle of water which is a lot more than I normally do. I drink too much squash and coke and not enough water, I am trying to change this, however, and drink a litre every day this month to make it a habit. Also, I feel I didn’t snack much today. I had a healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, afternoon snack, and a healthy dinner. I don’t want to cut out sugar and fatty foods straight away though because I think my body is use to them, and I should decrease them slowly.

Overall, I am very happy with today though. If every university day is as productive as today then I will be happy. I thought my lecture was good and I am looking forward to really starting now, I have the possibility of a job at Morrison’s, the possibility of cafe jobs and I may even go for the student ambassador position. All will improve both my CV and my bank balance. I hope to continue the healthy eating as well.

October 2016 Goals

This post is very similar to something I use to do very often, which was called ClearTheList. This was, basically, a monthly goal setting chart. I want to get back into this as I think setting short term realistic goals are a great way to be productive and achieve more. These goals can be as little as changing one thing about your diet like ‘eat one more piece of fruit every day’ or ‘go walking for 20 minutes every day.’ Whatever it is, as long as you are improving yourself or your lifestyle for the better then everything counts.

My goals in the past, however, have been quite academic based… specifically language based. Because I study Spanish and Italian at university, I like to set myself goals at the beginning of every month to try and improve a certain area of that subject. For example, ‘revise vocabulary every day for 30 minutes’ or ‘read 10 pages of Spanish every day.’ But then I stopped doing this over the summer and now because I am only just getting back into goal setting, I am going to keep mine a little vague and cover a few areas of my life (university, reading, and diet) and then see how this month goes. I will review the goals at the end of the month and, hopefully, I will have done well and then I will set more specific ones in more areas like exercise.

But without further or do, these are my goals for this month:

• Read two books this month.

I could set a specific amount of time to read each day but in the past this hasn’t worked and instead I like to just set a number of books to try and read by the end. I have been in a bit of a reading slump (mentioned here) recently so I don’t want to aim too high.

• Revise Spanish/Italian for 30 minutes every day.

I can alternate each day with a different language or however I choose, but I want to spend at least 30 minutes every day doing something extra outside of uni work to improve my skills.

• Eat healthier!

I have just moved back to uni and this week’s diet has not been good. But I start uni tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting into a routine and eating better. I am going to say I have achieved this goal each day if I have eaten more fruit and veg, had a healthy smoothie, and drank a lot more water… anything like this. I am going to try to begin to do all these things but slowly entwine them into my every day diet. Otherwise, I think I will go mad all at once, be great for a couple of days and then burn out and pig out on all the normal sugary foods.

I know these are not many goals nor are they very specific. But they are just different areas I want to try do better in and I do not want to be specific yet as I am only just getting back into goal setting.

Life Update: Setember

Summer is over, which means I am now back at university to start my second year. I moved in yesterday and now I have one week to sort a few things out before term starts on Monday 3^rd October. It has been good to see everyone so far, my housemates are a lot better (I’m hoping) than last year so I am optimistic for this year. Up until now, however, what have I been up to?

I worked till the end of August and then decided to leave it there, so that I knew I had a few weeks of no work and no uni work, just a nice break to myself to relax, recharge and get ready for uni. I had a long list of things I needed to buy and do before I came back, but I was also just taking a lot of ‘me time’.

I think this is something our generation has definitely created/ encouraged. There are so many spas everywhere, so many ‘getaway holidays’ to relax and just so much more information out there about how to eat healthier, how to take better care of your skin and how much you should exercise. All of this information is to help us lead a stronger, healthier and happier life. However, it can be very hard to implement these aspects of health into our everyday routines.

That’s why I decided to take a break where I could just chill out and make sure I was doing what I wanted to do to be happy. For me, things that I did more of included: working out, trying yoga, walking my dogs, reading, writing, being with my family, watching a lot of films etc.

Some people might just call this laziness. But at the end of the day, those types of people probably work 24/7 and feel exhausted or stressed. Maybe I am a bit lazy, but I was working full time all summer. So this time off is essentially the same as someone taking a two week holiday abroad, except I am staying at home.

What made this time even better was the weather. It was about 30 degrees every day so it felt like the middle of summer even now it is autumn. Because of this I was able to walk my dogs over fields a lot while wearing shorts and getting a tan. Life always feels better when you have a tan, no idea why but it’s the truth.

There was a slight surprise though through my time off. Jamie was meant to be working away in Oxford from the start of September until Christmas. Therfore, I knew I wouldn’t be seeing him nearly as much which meant even more time to me. However, on the second day of his job, he crushed his thumb with a large piece of metal and had to go to A & E. Now, he has to have a good few weeks off for it to recover, after two+ hours in surgery. This meant I ended up spending almost every day with him as he had nowhere to be. Silver lining I guess.

So, all in all, I had a very chilled out few weeks off before going back to uni to begin year two. Now, I am here. I haven’t settled in yet at all. I didn’t unpack anything yesterday except making up my bed, because I was chilling with my flat mates. I thought that was more important because I can unpack any day this week. But I also didn’t sleep very well last night. You know when your body and mind just knows you’re in a different place? The window is in a different place to my room at home, the lighting was different, everything just didn’t feel comfortable and I immediately missed home. Not the best start, but today, I will unpack everything and try to make it all as cosy as possible.

New summer, new challenges, new chapter

This sounds like a very cliché title to begin, but I have been thinking recently about what I want to do this summer and what I want to achieve, hence the new challenge title.

If you don’t know already, I am a language enthusiast; I am currently studying Spanish and Italian at university, as well as dabbling in German every day on Duolingo. So I have been thinking, why not go crazy and add French into the mix? It sounds bizarre, and my friends think I am bonkers, but I have never really studied French, except for year seven, which I can only remember the numbers 1-5, but probably couldn’t even spell them now. I love learning new languages, especially the Romance ones because they all originate from Latin and are therefore connected in vocabulary and grammar which I love discovering.

Therefore, challenge one: I am going to attempt to learn French this summer. I hardly expect to be fluent, heck I hardly expect to hold a conversation for more than two minutes, but I am going to learn all the basics. Improve vocabulary, learn how to talk about oneself and family, asking about others, and talk about future plans. You know, just the standard conversations to expect at beginner level.

I am doing this because I am passionate about European languages, and I feel I have somehow avoided French all through secondary and then college and now I am at uni. I would love to visit France someday, I absolutely love reading novels set in France and I just fall in love with the culture every time. I am also doing this because I have never studied a language outside of an academic route. All my Spanish, Italian and German have been learnt through lessons, teachers, homework and exams. But I went to try to go at a language on my own, without the deadline of handing in a 300 word essay on your hobbies etc. I want to do this myself, with resources I find online through the internet and books etc.

Through this, I am planning to upload a post every week letting you all know how I am getting on. Perhaps with what I have learnt that week, and specific goals to aim for the following week; because, at the end of the day, no one can set the goal of ‘become fluent in French’ and it just happens. I need realistic goals to be set and reviewed every week to check I am on track.

Next challenge, completely unrelated to the above mentioned, I want to use FutureLearn more. Has anyone else heard of this website? I hadn’t until very recently, now I have registered and I love it. FutureLearn is a free online website, in which you can sign up to many different courses just to improve your subject knowledge in a specific area. They have categories ranging from business to languages to literature to teaching to history, everything. I recommend you go check it out.

Therefore, by the end of this summer (which for me is early September), I hope to have completed a few courses on FutureLearn and also to be a lot further along with French. I will update throughout the coming months, because I find this will motivate me more to keep on track.