73. Lifestyle // 21 before 21 Update #3

It's now only 40 days until I turn 21, and two months since I began my 21 before 21 list. The last month has been a busy one, and you can see from my August Round up post here, but I still managed to tick off, or make progress on, a few items on the list - any items which have been completed have been striked-through and any that have changed/had progress made, are in bold - any that I have totally and utterly failed at are in red!

So, let's see how I got on...

Health & Beauty

Lose another 20lbs (or reach a weight at which I'm genuinely happy) - I got started on the Get Fit in 12 Weeks challenge; so far I've only lost 1lb but, hey, slow progress is good progress right...? Right?!

Stop biting my nails 

Give up smoking

Get my hair in good condition

Blogging

Reach 50 followers on Bloglovin & 10,000 page views 

Attend a Bloggers meet-up or event - ticket booked for #MinkMeetUp

Get a proper blog layout

Friends & Family

Arrange my 21st birthday celebrations with friends

Have an amazing time in Amsterdam with S (everything is booked & paid for, roll on October 12th!)

Have enough money saved for a deposit 

 Hobbies

Read and review one new book each week (5/19)

The Boy in The River (9/10), Songs of the Humpback Whale (6/10), Oh Dear Silvia (7/10), The Pianist (8/10), Backstory (8/10)

Watch and review one new film each week (12/19)

Blood Diamond (6/10), Wreck it Ralph (8/10), World War Z (7/10), This is 40 (7/10), Snatch (9/10), Angel's Share (8/10), Attack of the Block (6/10), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (8/10), Cloud Atlas (5/10), Olympus has Fallen (6/10), Bernie (7/10), Oblivion (6/10)

Cook or bake something new each week (6/19)

Chai & Banana Cake, Oreo Cheesecake, Homemade Nachos, Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies, Cranberry Flapjack, Lemon & Blueberry Cake

Financial

Save £600 towards Amsterdam & flat deposit ~ halfway there!

Do not go overdrawn or miss any card payments or bills~ went overdrawn and missed a payment :'(

Material Matters

Buy a good camera

Treat myself to a Kindle Fire HD

Buy or create one item each week for our new home (9/19) - I'll be doing a little post on this soon :)

The Boring Stuff

Pass theory and practical driving test ~ theory test booked!

Find a job that meets my needs, e.g. hours, income, challenging - YES! FINALLY!

Pass first module (The Arts: Past and Present) with a minimum overall score of 70% (currently on 75%, boom!)

What have you achieved recently?
Do you like to set yourself goals?

Lots of Love,
Becci xo

56. Lifestyle // 21 before 21 Update #2

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last did one of these posts! It's been a total whirlwind with work, catching up with friends and studying. July literally just zoomed past! 

In the midst of all this (lovely) chaos, I've totally forgotten to even look at my 21 before 21 list, so now it's time to see whether I managed to achieve anything in July... 

Health & Beauty

Lose another 20lbs (or reach a weight at which I'm genuinely happy) - pfft...

Stop biting my nails 

Give up smoking

Get my hair in good condition - much better than it was, but still a way to go! If you can think of any brilliant products or treatments, do let me know!

Blogging

Reach 50 followers on Bloglovin (almost there!!) & 10,000 page views

Attend a Bloggers meet-up or event. Nothing yet *sob* but hoping to get to one over the summer!

Get a proper blog layout

Friends & Family

Arrange my 21st birthday celebrations with friends

Have an amazing time in Amsterdam with S (everything is booked and sorted, roll on October 12th!)

Have enough money saved for a deposit (put on hold until after Amsterdam for now)

 Hobbies

Read and review one new book each week (4/19)

The Boy in The River (9/10), Songs of the Humpback Whale (6/10), Oh Dear Silvia (7/10), The Pianist (8/10)

Watch and review one new film each week (7/19)

Blood Diamond (6/10), Wreck it Ralph (8/10), World War Z (7/10), This is 40 (7/10), Snatch (9/10), Angel's Share (8/10), Attack of the Block (6/10) - I can't remember the rest... this one is really hard to keep track of as I watch so many films!

Cook or bake something new each week (3/19)

Chai & Banana Cake, Oreo Cheesecake, Homemade Nachos

Financial

Save £600 towards Amsterdam & flat deposit - Amsterdam savings = DONE! Flat savings = on hold.

Do not go overdrawn or miss any card payments or bills - so far, so good!

Material Matters

Buy a good camera

Treat myself to a Kindle Fire HD

Buy or create one item each week for our new home (1/19)

The Boring Stuff

Pass theory and practical driving test (I have to wait for my new glasses before I can have any lessons *sob*)

Find a job that meets my needs, e.g. hours, income, challenging - YES! FINALLY!

Pass first module (The Arts: Past and Present) with a minimum overall score of 70% (currently on 75%, boom!)

As you can see, this month hasn't been particularly productive in terms of crossing items of my to-do list, but it's been a good month nonetheless for so many other reasons and I'm feeling so motivated to make August an absolute belter.

Lots of love,

Becci xo

47. Lifestyle // 21 before 21 Update #1

A month ago I set myself a list of goals that I wanted to achieve by my 21st birthday (99 days to go!) and promised that I'd update once a month so that I - and anybody else who is interested - could monitor my progress. So, here goes, how have I been getting on?

Green = achieved

Orange = in progress

Red = not quite yet...

Health & Beauty

Lose another 20lbs (or reach a weight at which I'm genuinely happy) - erm, no.

Stop biting my nails – haven’t bitten them for 10 days! *proud*

Give up smoking

Get my hair in good condition (no more split-ends or hairs falling out all the time!)

Blogging

Reach 50 followers on Bloglovin & 10,000 page views - this started off as 'reach 100 followers' but I don't think that will happen by October as I'm such a new and unestablished blogger so I've changed my goal to 50 followers. I'm currently around the 20 mark and just over 2,000 views, so I'm happy.

Attend a Bloggers meet-up or event - I've not managed to get to any of the events I've been invited to yet, but hopefully soon!

Get a proper blog layout

Friends & Family

Arrange my 21st birthday celebrations with friends - I'm planning on a cocktail night with all my favourite girls once I'm moved into the new place!

Have an amazing time in Amsterdam with S - so far we've booked the hotel and saved up some spendies too! Roll on October 12th! 

Have enough money saved for a deposit - we're getting there, but it's looking like we'll JUST get there by my birthday...

 Hobbies

Read and review one new book each week (1/19)

The Boy in The River (9/10) - unfortunately, due to lack of time, I've not managed to read 4 books but I'm halfway through two books at the moment and now that the weather is better I can sit and read in the garden, so perhaps that'll spur me on!

Watch and review one new film each week (4/19)

Blood Diamond (6/10), Wreck it Ralph (8/10), World War Z (7/10), This is 40 (7/10)

Cook or bake something new each week (1/19)

Chai & Banana Cake - again, I'm not quite up to date on this one either... oops!

Financial

Save £600 towards Amsterdam & flat deposit - as I mentioned before, this is a work in progress!

Do not go overdrawn or miss any card payments or bills - so far, so good!

Material Matters

Buy a good camera

Treat myself to a Kindle Fire HD

Buy or create one item each week for our new home (1/19) – only got one new item so far, I'll do a little haul post once I've got a few more bits and pieces!

The Boring Stuff

Pass theory and practical driving test - finally got round to booking in some more driving lessons, hoping to book my test next month!

Find a job that meets my needs, e.g. hours, income, challenging - YES! FINALLY!

Pass first module (The Arts: Past and Present) with a minimum overall score of 70% - currently on 75% overall!

Apologies for the hideous colours but I hope you enjoyed this post!

Lots of love
Becci xo

34. Challenges // 21 before 21

I'm absolutely terrified about turning 21. I'm actually counting down the days (129 for anyone whose interested...) and constantly asking myself, 'where have the last 21 years gone?!' 'what have I achieved?' 

You see, to me 21 is a big birthday. It signals the point when you should be growing up, being independent and, of course, having the time of your life! Sometimes I worry that my life is just passing me by, especially with my anxiety that stops me doing a lot of things that I'd like to do, but I don't want it to be like that.

Your 20's are supposed to be some of the funnest times of your life; before you get all the stresses of a mortgage and bills and just general day to day boring-ness (is that a word?) and I want to make the most of that. Although I - along with a lot of other people around my age - do already have to worry about making ends meet and, occasionally, whether I've even got enough money to eat, I do still have so many opportunities for fun and excitement and I promise to take advantage of that!

However, before I turn 21 in October, there are a few things I'd like to achieve; some fun (yay), some boring and some that I just 'need' to get over and done with. I hope you enjoy reading through my 21 before 21 list; let me know what you'd add to yours, or whether you've done anything I'm hoping to do :)

Health & Beauty

Lose another 20lbs (or reach a weight at which I'm genuinely happy)

Stop biting my nails

Quit smoking

Get my hair in good condition (no more split-ends or hairs falling out all the time!)

Blogging

Reach 100 followers on Bloglovin (I'm currently on 6) & 10,000 page views

Attend a Bloggers meet-up or event

Get a proper blog layout

Friends & Family

Arrange my 21st birthday celebrations with friends

Have an amazing time in Amsterdam with S

Look for flats/houses with S and save for our deposit

Hobbies

Read and review one new book each week (0/19)

Watch and review one new film each week (0/19)

Cook or bake something new each week (0/19)

Financial

Save £600 towards Amsterdam & flat deposit (currently saved £85)

Do not go overdrawn or miss any card payments or bills

Material Matters

Buy a good camera

Treat myself to a Kindle Fire HD

Buy or create one item each week for our new home (0/19)

The Boring Stuff

Pass my theory & practical driving test

Find a job that meets my needs, e.g. hours, income, challenging

Pass first module (The Arts: Past and Present) with a minimum overall score of 70%

I plan to update you all once a month to let you (and me!) know how I'm progressing.

Lots of love, Becci xo