5 Ways to Prepare For Christmas

As much as I love December, it's definitely my busiest month of the year. If it's the same for you, my advice is to plan ahead. Don't leave things to the last minute. There's nothing worse than running around on Christmas Eve trying to get everything done the night before. In today's post, I'm going to be sharing five ways to get ready for the 25th. Don't underestimate how many days you have left. They'll go by in the blink of an eye!

1. Write Your Christmas Wishlist
You're never too old for a Christmas Wishlist! There's nothing wrong with giving friends and family some kind of indication as to what you'd like getting. Of course they'd like to get you something you'd really love as you hope to do for them. 

2. Decide on a Budget
When it comes to present buying, it's a good idea to limit yourself to a certain spending amount. That way you won't get too carried away while shopping. If you can figure out what you want to get each person early on, you'll have less trouble settling on a realistic budget. 

3. Check You Have Enough Festive Gift Wrap
Make sure you have enough gift wrap to last you the holiday season. One or two rolls may seem like enough but can you never be too sure. It's always better to have more rather than less and you can always use your leftover rolls in the upcoming years. 

4. Clean Your House From Top to Bottom
If you know you're going to be having a lot of guests throughout the month, be sure to give your house a good tidy. Get everything in order before bringing out the Christmas decor. It's important your space is all sorted out before giving it a festive makeover. 

5. Restock Your Pantry
There's a lot of cooking and baking that happens around this time of year. Which means your pantry and fridge must be properly stocked. Replenish main ingredients like sugar, salt, flour and oil and for other, less ordinary supplies, refer to your favourite Christmas recipes. 

Thanks for reading!

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Why do You Love The Holiday Season? - Quiz

Christmas is coming and this year I'm determined to show more festive spirit here on my blog. Last December, I only published three Christmas themed blog posts! This is why I thought I'd get in early and make my November quiz Christmas related. I'm going to see if I can guess what aspect of the holiday season you love the most. Let me know if I was right or wrong in the comment section below! 

1. When I was younger, my favourite way to spend the night before Christmas was...
A) Preparing the cookies and milk for Santa.
B) Carolling around the neighbourhood.
C) Relaxing with family and friends around the fireplace.
D) Driving around and seeing all the different Christmas lights.

2. To get in the festive mood each year, I will...
A) Learn how to make a new Christmas dish.
B) Create a Christmas playlist.
C) Have a Christmas movie marathon.
D) Attempt a couple of Christmas DIYs.

3. I like to deck out _______ for Christmas.
A) The kitchen
B) My bedroom
C) The living room
D) Every room in the house

4. The phone app I use the most during the holiday season is...
A) YouTube.
B) Spotify.
C) Netflix.
D) Pinterest.

5. The Christmas scent I'm obsessed with is...
A) Ginger spice.
B) Cherry.
C) Vanilla bean.
D) Peppermint.

6. I can't get through December without my...
A) Christmas cookbook.
B) Headphones.
C) 'Elf' DVD.
D) Tinsel and fairy lights.

7. My favourite place to go in the days leading up to Christmas is...
A) The supermarket.
B) The shopping mall.
C) The cinema.
D) Santa's grotto.

8. I like to wear my Christmas themed _______ around this time of year.
A) Apron
B) Socks
C) Pyjamas
D) Sweater

9. On my Christmas Wishlist is a...
A) Kitchen mixer.
B) Record player.
C) Laptop.
D) Desk for my room.

10. When I think of Christmas, the first thing that comes to mind is...
A) Christmas pudding.
B) Snow.
C) Santa.
D) Christmas trees.

You love the holiday.......

(Mostly A's)
Food
Your favourite part of Christmas Day is sitting around the dining room table, surrounded by loved ones, with your plate stacked high with food. Not only do you enjoy eating Christmas food, you love making it yourself. You're a professional chef when it comes to this time of year.

(Mostly B's)
Music
You love your Christmas tunes. It doesn't matter if it's a classic or modern take, you're happy to sing along to it anyway. Whether you're at home or out and about, you'll make sure to play festive music wherever you are. It's no wonder you know the lyrics to every Christmas song invented.

(Mostly C's)
Movies
You're very dedicated to your Christmas films. You could watch 'Love Actually' a thousand times and never get bored of it. There's no other place you'd rather spend Christmas evening than lounging on the couch in front of the TV with a huge fluffy blanket and cup of hot cocoa. 

(Mostly D's)
Decorations
Christmas is when you really get creative with your interior space. You're not afraid to spend when it comes to holiday decor. It's like a Christmas explosion every time people enter your house. Friends and family are always very complimentary of how much effort you put into giving your home that very festive feel.

Thanks for taking the quiz! 

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My Bullet Journal Essentials

When it comes to bullet journalling, everyone has their must-have supplies. It took some research and a bit of trial and error to get to mine but I'm really happy with the tools and equipment I use today. Here they are! 

(Black Fineliners) Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen XS and Uni Pin Fineliner 0.3
I use these pens for drawing outlines and writing text. The Faber Castell fineliner is my go-to when it comes to noting things down however if I want to decorate my spreads with little doodles or illustrations, I'll use the Uni Pin fineliner as it is slightly thicker and bolder. 

(Calligraphy Pen) Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen Soft Tip

This is the pen I like to use for titles and headers. If you're interested in learning calligraphy then I'd highly recommend the Tombow brand. Their pens are really easy to practice stroke control with. 

(White Gel Pen) Uniball Signo Broad UM - 153

Mistakes and slip ups are inevitable when bullet journalling which is why this gel pen really comes in handy. If it's a small typo, I can easily cover it up. Not only is it a great correction pen, it's also a great pen to write with. White text on black looks really effective. 

(Highlighters)

Highlighters are a recent addition to my bullet journal essentials but I've been finding them super useful. They're great if I want to emphasise on something I've written. They also add a nice pop of colour to my typically monotone pages. 

(Washi Tape)

Last but not least, washi tape. I'm not a huge fan of glueing things down in my bullet journal so a strip of washi tape is a great alternative. That way, if I want to remove it later on, it's no hassle to do so. This is also another way for me to make my spreads a little more colourful. 

Thanks for reading! What are your bullet journal essentials? 

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Knowing When to Take a Blogging Break

Around a month ago, I took my first blogging break of the year. Since January, I'd followed quite a strict blogging routine so having to turn my back on my blog for that two week period was really tough. It was around this time that all my final Uni assignments were due and even though I hadn't done too bad managing these sort of deadlines in the past, I think all the energy and inspiration I'd had at the start of the year was beginning to run low. My initial ideas for these assignments were either too far fetched or not ambitious enough. For some reason, it took me ages to establish a good topic/theme for all of my projects. I just couldn't see it possible for me to put together a blog post with all the stress surrounding my courses. It wasn't an easy decision to make but the moment I shared my Instagram photo announcing my break, I knew I couldn't back out. It was really disheartening to know that I'd ruined my blogging streak, but looking back on it now, I'm really grateful that I took that break when I did. 

Putting Your Wellbeing First
With anything that requires a lot of your time and commitment, it's important to know when to stop and step away. There's always the chance of overdoing it or burning yourself out. I'd thought I'd got the hang of balancing blogging with everything else but since circumstances are always changing, this of course wasn't going to be the case forever. Just because something was easy before, doesn't mean it'll always be this way. If you've already got enough on your plate, you don't need to prove anything to yourself. 

Not Writing Because You Have to
Bloggers along with other social media influencers and content creators know how important it is to be consistent with their posting and uploading schedules. Because of this, I think it's easy to fall into that trap of simply putting out a post for the sake of it. You don't get any enjoyment or satisfaction out of it but at least you can tick it off for the week. I was so focused on my Uni work, it was really hard for me to think of a blog post idea that made me feel excited or happy to sit at my laptop and write it. This was another reason I chose to take my blogging break. Not only did I have very little time to put out a post but I didn't want to have to force myself to write a post that I was only half-interested in. 

Rediscovering Your Passion
At the end of my break, when all my assignments were in, I wanted to get back into blogging straight away. I realised that I had actually missed tending to my blog and even though Uni had been my everything for those two crazy weeks, my blog was always somewhere at the back of my mind. While I had left my blog feeling quite lost, I was able to return to it with fresh eyes which definitely made my little break a lot more worthwhile. 

Thanks for reading! 

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Photo Diary - Sydney, Australia

Hello from Sydney, Australia! I've spent an amazing couple of days here doing a lot of sightseeing, shopping and eating out. I'm definitely sad to be leaving in two days time. We were lucky to have accommodation in the heart of the city so all the malls, eateries and most touristy places were within walking distance. Apart from the Blue Mountains which was around a 1 hour bus trip away, everything else was really close by. Because my camera has been with me everywhere on this trip, I decided to make this post my first ever photo diary. Here it is! 

Museum of Contemporary Art

Sydney Opera House

Blue Mountains

Around the City

Thanks for checking out this week's post! Have you been to Sydney before? Would you want to travel there? Let me know in the comment section below! 

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