2014, The Year of Becoming

Good morning 2015! Where has the time gone? As is custom for every single blogger ever, I couldn't welcome in the new year without a review/resolution post. And so this is the two turned into one! What an absolute delight. Because it is a new year, I mainly want to focus on the resolutions and goals topic- I find no matter how many I read, I love hearing everyones aims for the new year even though I know a lot will be broken within weeks, it always inspires me. 

So, 2014. A brief look back includes moving to Italy for 6 months to work and live as an Au Pair, starting University, meeting new people and trying new things, still steadily losing pounds (in weight and in actual money, student life is very poor) and most importantly finding a bit of myself. Gap years are stereotypically the time teenagers branch out and grow up a bit more, and however much I cringe and dread to say it, I definitely realised a lot more about myself. And more importantly, I became comfortable with who I am, something which is definitely reflected in my 2015 resolutions! I welcomed the new year in with some of my best friends, surrounded by hundreds of people all in fancy dress at our local seaside town. Everyone gathers together in the square to count in the new year, and after a very late night/early morning, I can only feel a whole swarm of love towards my welcoming to 2015, I have little tiny feeling it'll be a good'un.

I like to think of 2015 as starting on the 2nd January rather than the first. Stupid, I know, but 99.9% of people are just too non-human to function on new years day and so nothing really kicks in until the 2nd. From then, your 'new year, new me' can begin (because let's face it, that's everyones resolution every year)! I am a big advocate of resolutions, I know they're a bit cheesy and most of us break them before even getting out of January, but setting goals and wiping the slate clean is the best bit about a new year. I'm not great at keeping new years resolutions, I know that, I've already broken dry January and we're only on the second day, but here are a few resolutions to get the ball rolling, hopefully this year they'll last!

Put more time and effort into my blog, this is a big one for me. I love blogging and I love writing and I am so happy with the pace at with Alice's Antics is growing, but I know the lifestyle blogs I have to contend with spend hours on posts and taking beautiful photographs to make their blogs beautiful. So one of my top aims of the year is to give Alice's Antics some TLC, give it a make over and spend more time on posts.

Spend time on myself, out of all my new years resolutions, this is the one I am most determined to keep. It may sound slightly selfish, but if you've been following my blogs recently I've put a lot of emphasis on happiness and self worth. I'm in absolutely no denial that towards the end of 2014 I became a bit of a serial dater, a lot of pointless outings and a lot of free drinks later and I'm in no better position to what I was. Having a 'man detox' for the first couple of months of the year is something I'm really keen to do, just because I want to establish who I am and be happy in myself before I take on anyone else.

Only buy coffee once a week, this is the new years resolution which will almost definitely be broken within days. I spend far too much money on coffee, in fact I'm pretty sure I keep Costa and Starbucks going. This year my resolution is to only buy coffee once a week. I'm too much of a coffee addict to limit myself to only drinking coffee on that day, I'm not sure how I'd survive, but I have coffee syrups (thanks to my lovely aunty as a christmas present) and a portable pug mug so I really have no excuse.

Eat better, exercise more, what a classic eh!? Every year I set myself this resolution, along with the rest of the world. For the last two years I've actually managed to stick to it a little bit, I've managed to lose a couple of stone and that is through diet change and exercise without a doubt. But this time, I want to be stricter with myself. Being at university does mean my funds are limited when it comes to food, but it also means my diet is completely and utterly under my control. If I don't buy unhealthy things, there won't be any to eat. We'll see how it goes, but I'm extremely determined and so far things have gone fairly well.

Monitor my spending, this won't be a shock to anyone in my real life. I am awful at saving money, quite simply appalling. But with deposits and bills and travelling to pay for, spending minimal money is top of the agenda. This hasn't gotten off to the greatest start, after going out for lunch today and buying myself 3 new pairs of underwear, but onwards and upwards for the rest of the year! At least I will be feeling sassy in my new undies whilst not spending money!

I'm so excited for what 2015 has in hold for me. Amongst essays, exams and the end of my year as a fresher, I have travelling, holiday-ing and moving into my new house with friends to look forward to. I want to thank everyone and anyone who has taken the time to read Alice's Antics in 2014. This time last year I was writing to a 3 people strong following, and now there's almost 500 of us with bloglovin' and blogger combined. So thank you thank you thank you, I hope all of you have the most wonderful of year!

Ciao for Now!
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