I have no idea how I have managed this but this is my 600th published blog post!
I want to thank everyone who has ever read a post, retweeted a tweet, liked a Facebook status, left a comment, repinned a pin, shared a link and recommended a friend.
Here’s to the next 600 posts!
I mentioned in my last post that May was a big turning point for me. That’s because at the end of April, I accepted a new job and handed in my notice for my old one. A position that I had not been happy in for a long time.
On Monday I start a new job and I’m excited and ready for this month to be one of the best yet. Plus, I’m finally on top of my blogging schedule. (Hope you guys have noticed. 
)
It is also my birthday month. I’ve never really looked forward to 26, yet it’s happening to me on Thursday, so I’d better get ready. To me, it’s a bit too grown up and boring. However, I always expected 25 to be big for me, but I could never have predicted how much my life has changed since my last birthday. I’m starting a new job, I’m in a new relationship and I have tons of friends in London and across the world who really care and want to spend time with me and I’m just happier than I have been in a very long time. That is an amazing thing for me to say.
I have also taken a turn for the better in terms of fitness. I’ve got a whole new kit and have signed up to Get Yummy Fitness for the end of the month for a month-long boot camp kick start. However in the meantime, I have been running and doing yoga and the aforementioned fat-burning Pilates on YouTube. I feel strong and free and happy.
Plus, the sun is out. And that always helps.
Enjoy your month guys!
May has been a huge turning point for me. I’ve done so much and come so far in so many aspects of my life that I felt that a round-up post would be a great idea.
So, if you’ve missed any posts from me this month, here you go:
I went to Texas, where I ate at Austin Food Park. I also went to Italy.
We had a big Eurovision party!
I finally reviewed my Clean and Lean 14lbs weight loss experience, plus I let you guys know about this awesome fat-burning pilates workout on Youtube.
I let you all know about The Wet Fish Cafe in West Hampstead. Oh, and also about the Transatlantic WiFi on the new American Airlines planes.
Plus, I let you in on a couple of little beauty secrets, such as my re-discovery of this. I’ve been loving my healthy hair, thanks to Schwarzkopf BC Fibre Force. More photos here!
And FINALLY, I hit 200 likes on my Facebook Page!
May was amazing. I’m so excited for June! Come back this weekend to find out what I’ve got in store.
This week has been pretty fun for me. I’ve seen friends, celebrated birthdays, been out for dinner, got back on top of the blog and my freelancing (somehow!). My mum is coming to visit this weekend and we are off to the theatre to see A Chorus Line, which I have never seen. The weather in the UK is also threatening to warm up. We’ve been in double figures this week for the first time this year. No snow is forecast and my sunglasses are in my bag… just in case!
Here are a few things on the internet that have caught my eye this week.
How much time on the internet is too much? They’ve been debating it over on Hello Giggles. Working at home has it’s advantages but also its disadvantages.
I’ve been investigating How to Save Money whilst on a budget. Necessary for me right now.
Want to know the difference between life in your early twenties and life in your late twenties? It’s right here. And it’s so true.
British Backpacker Sarah Groves lost her life last week in a vile attack in Kashmir. The Sun newspaper went around to her parents’ house demanding identification of photos for publication and asking questions with a dictaphone hidden up the reporter’s sleeve. So much for Leveson. This is why her brother Tom started this petition. #justiceforsarah
Can you be friends with an ex? I’m certainly hoping so, with time.
Fancy winning an iPad mini? Check out Sudocrem’s competition here.
Hello! Just received this press release and wanted to share it with you guys. I already entered, have you?
Sudocrem launches its first crowd sourced debate
‘Skincare Vs. Makeup’ – you decide!
The endless debate within the beauty world has always been; what is more important to looking good, is it Skincare or is it Makeup?
Sudocrem intend to find out via the Sudocrem Skin Care Cream (Sudocrem for grown-ups) Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SudocremTube), where we will be encouraging people to vote for which one they value more to their daily routine. All participants will be eligible for random selection to WIN a brand, spanking new iPad mini!
How to enter:
Step 1 – Go to www.facebook.com/SudocremTube and ‘Like’ the page.
Step 2 – Select the ‘Makeup V Skincare’ app and complete your contact details. Then select whether either Skincare or Makeup is more important to your daily routine.
Step 3 – Share the competition with all your friends and hope that you’ve won!
Competition start date – 8th April 2013
Competition finish date – 4th June 2013
Competition winners announced – 10th June 2013
The Prizes: 1st prize – iPad mini (16GB WIFI Only)
P.S. I am not being paid to advertise this, nor did I write it, but I will have samples for you guys in the coming weeks!
P.P.S I’m on Facebook too! Like the page here.
I wrote this a few weeks ago, but at the time this post made my week at the time. And I was already having a pretty HILARIOUS day.
Blog Post Love: It’s Okay to not be Okay.
Every now and then I read a blog post on a new blog that really resonates with me. I pop into into my favourites or maybe link to it in a Friday link round-up but I never really take the time to fully pay attention. That’s is why from now on you will find ‘Blog Post LOVE’ pieces on my blog where I write responses to blog posts that have affected me in some way. First up is ‘It’s ok to not be okay’ from Nicole at Life Less Bullshit.
When I discovered this blog post on Life Less Bullshit (via Amy’s amazing weekly links!), I found myself screaming ‘Yes!’ at the screen. Why? Because it really is ok to not be ok. Life is really stressful sometimes. I’ve had to undergo a lot of stress at work recently. My love life has hardly been a bed of roses over the past few months, and my family situation can cause me to be emotional at times. Nicole’s post made me see that you sometimes have to experience ALL of the emotions and accept that this is just what life is about. These emotions aren’t all necessarily negative. You could be excited to see someone, relieved that something is over, nervous about starting a new project and worried about a friend. Most of the time, all of these things can happen simultaneously and you need to recognise that and take a breath. Maybe that project is just really stressing you out or your boyfriend just really annoyed you about that one thing. It doesn’t mean that you don’t lead a happy life or that you don’t love your job or him in the long run.
The post is just fabulous. Go and read it.
We all know the feeling. That tiny niggle in the back of your mind that you aren’t done, that you’ve still got things to do. I get this a LOT. Like, A LOT. And I know it’s because I’m dealing with a lot. I have a full-time, busy marketing job, a weekly commitment to Yahoo! Lifestyle, a monthly piece for an online magazine in Madrid and a couple more freelance projects to help people with social media. Not to mention a blog that I want to put everything in to but that inevitably always comes last in my priorities because it’s not ‘a job’.
So I’ve decided to take charge of my guilt. I’m not saying that I’m going to stop getting stressed, but I think I spend far too much time thinking about what I have to do as opposed to actually doing it and I think that having a system and schedule in place so that I know what I’m doing and WHEN I’m doing it will help me immensely. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. So ask yourself these questions and why not plan your life along with me?
Which one do you care about the most? For me, it’s the blog. It’s what I’m most proud of, what I always enjoy working on.
What do you want to improve? This is a long one. On the blog, I want to tweak my design and make sure that all of my feeds and social networks are aligned with it. I want to go through all of my posts (five years’ worth) and optimise for SEO. I want to have a system for scheduling tweets and FB posts of older blog posts in my catalogue that are still relevant today. I want to have time to write. I want to monetise the blog adding some links and ads without compromising the personal part of it. I want to have amazing, jaw-dropping stats that make people go ‘How?’ and I just coyly smile, tip my head to the side and say ‘Oh, I don’t know really’.
I want to also be able to happily manage my freelance and day jobs, until I get to the point where they merge. (That is the ultimate goal.)
How do you plan on fixing this?
Make a schedule: Separate writing time with social media time with email time. You can schedule and tidy things up with the tv on and a glass of wine. You can’t write like that though. It’s never as good.
Create a calendar of deadlines and a content calendar: Use post schedulers just like you do at work. I work in social media marketing and I always schedule posts a week in advance, use a content calendar to plan my months. I work on things at least 2 weeks in advance, often more when it’s a big project. I also use stats sites to track how things work. Why don’t I do that for my own stuff? I’m not quite sure to be honest. Time to change that I feel.
I know I’m not alone. The Lunchbox Diaries posted this on bloggers’ guilt a couple of weeks ago. I spotted this post on Yes and Yes recently as well as this piece from Cait at Pretty and Fun. There really are only so many hours in the day. You don’t have to be perfect, so quit trying.
This week I’ve been busy with my day job which means that all I actually want to do is sleep but this weekend, I shall be getting my hair did (growing too fast!) attending a friend’s birthday, catching up on piles of freelance work and hopefully sleeping and doing a full spring clean of my apartment (well overdue).
This spring cleaning post on Glitter Guide is inspiring me. As is this on Vanessa Lachey.
This piece on why women are more at risk of stress in the workplace caught my eye.
I’ve been on Facebook all week.
That’s about it really. I’ll be back on the blog soon!
It’s February! Wahey! I had kind of set myself a goal to just make it through January health-wise, money-wise, life-wise, so I’m pretty happy to have made it through.
Here’s what I’ve been doing, reading and loving this week:
by Sheila Heti.Have a great month, friends!
