OK, excuse the ridiculous Titanic quote, but I feel it sums up my HUGE web absence.

It’s not down to anything bad, I’ve just had a particularly hectic couple of months settling into my new job. So far I’m really enjoying myself. Yes it’s tiring, and yes it’s sometimes stressful. It is, however, incredibly rewarding. Especially when a child grasps a new concept you’ve taught them. It’s a great feeling seeing them so proud of their achievements (it’s definitely something we should work on more as adults!)

We’ve also been  starting to plan our wedding. Nobody warns you just how much is involved in wedding planning! So far we have the ceremony and reception venue and a date; Saturday 16th April 2016.

16.4.16.

My inner geek loves the symmetry of that date. We’re getting married at the same church as my parents did which is pretty special, followed by a reception at a beautiful local stately home. The biggest stress by far is the guest list. We’re both from large families and have a lot of friends so this is proving to be particularly tricky to whittle down to the venue’s numbers.

I also turned 29 at the start of this month. Only one year left to 30 as my lovely brother reminded me in my birthday card! So far if doesn’t feel any different to 28, although the looming big 3-0 is definitely on my radar now! I certainly thought I’d feel more grown up at this age than I do. Is anyone else like that? Maybe I’m forever going to feel 21 (if only I could forever look 21 too!)

I’m going to try and blog more regularly now I’ve got a better work-life balance established. Thanks for hanging in there!

This year I decided to finally update my scrapbook. I hadn’t done anything with it since May 2013. Needless to say I had a LOT of photos to order, sort and document.

It took me almost the whole of a weekend to get things organised and sorted but it was well worth it. I really enjoyed the whole process of looking through memories and making sure they last by sticking them in my scrapbook.

I found it very relaxing to plod my way through holidays, christenings, weddings, birthdays and days out. The whole thing definitely made me incredibly grateful to have the people in my life that I do.

Now I’m looking forward to making new memories to scrapbook (here’s hoping I manage to keep a bit more up to date with them this year!)

Last year I decided that I would hand make some of the Christmas gifts that we gave to our friends and family. I’ve saved posting about them until now because I didn’t want to spoil any surprises pre-December 25th!

For 5 of my friends I made reusable tote bags. I sewed them in contrasting fabrics and made them fully lined. I was pretty proud of myself for this! I filled them with a couple of little personalised gifts for each lady and added a little tag asking them to reuse the bag in future (doing my little bit to help the environment!) Here they are:

For another friend I knitted a toasty winter headband to keep her warm on her commute to work each day. I was almost tempted to keep this, I love the colour of the wool so much!

I hope that they all liked their presents. I certainly enjoyed making them, and intend to keep on making gifts for people this year. I’ve already got some Mother’s Day ideas in mind for mine and Jonny’s mums!

Being a lover of Pinterest (follow my boards here) I really like the inspiring quotes and phrases that fill it’s walls. It’s these inspirational posters that led me to thinking of what I would want my focus of 2015 to be in one word.

This was a harder process than I initially anticipated. Looking through my resolutions I contemplated ‘create’ ‘positivity’ and MANY others before finally settling upon ‘breathe.’

Source.

I choose breathe because it’s something that links nicely into Mindfulness. Concentrating upon the rhythm of my breathing when I’m starting to feel overwhelmed, stressed and my mind is generally whirring helps bring a level of calmness and focus back to my day. 

Starting a new job (tomorrow – eek!) and beginning to plan a wedding mean that this focus will be more than welcome. Especially when I’ve had a day that didn’t quite go to plan or I’m struggling to identify the good things in my life.

Source.

I like the simplicity of the word breathe. I like that it’s something we can all focus on, and relate to. I like the sound of it when I say it.

So here’s to 2015 being the year that I slow things down a little to breathe, find direction and have a great time!

What word would you choose to summarise 2015?