Wednesday, February 14th, 2018
It’s my 25th birthday tomorrow and that sounds super old. I know it’s not really but you always say when you’re little “When I’m 25 I’ll have blah…” so it sounds like a serious age! I think anything from 20-24 sounds quite young still but when you hit 25 it’s BAM you’re on the way to thirty now babe, sort your life out. Here are 25 good things that I’m loving from the past year / things that I’ve learnt over the years. 25 is an age where you should *probably* have your shit together and I almost feel like I do!
1. Embracing the fringe
I’ve had a fringe for probably 80% of the time that I’ve had hair and I tried to grow it out last year and just didn’t really feel like me. Plus, it’s a nightmare to style a growing out fringe and I have not got time for that. The fringe is me and I’m just running with it because I love it!
2. Progressing in my career
I mean yay for that. I spoke more about it in my 5 Thoughts About 2017 post but it’s just really exciting to actually be learning stuff again. I’m challenging myself, actually ‘working’ and feeling pretty good about it.
3. Finding your perfect nail girl
A teeny tiny win but it makes all the difference. I’ve found Robyn from Dolly Nottingham because she moved into the salon space at my hairdressers, KH Hair and she is awesome. I’ve flitted between random salons for years and it’s so nice now to have someone I can go to that I know will do an amazing job and is also lovely to have a chat to.
4. Rediscovering checkerboard Vans
Basically they’re awesome and why did I ever stop wearing them when I was 14?
5. Baking treats
I’ve finally found my baking mojo. Brownies and Blondies are all I can bake but they’re pretty damn tasty. I will never be a cupcake queen but I’m OK with that.
6. Deciding to buy a house is scary
Good but scary. I mean, you need to sort it out at some point, right?
7. Pink hair
So fun. Blonde hair is also fun.
8. Pink bedding
Because why the hell not again? They look cute af.
9. City breaks
They’re awesome. In the past year, since my last birthday, we’ve been to Dublin, Leeds, London, Birmingham and Prague and I love seeing new places, eating new food and exploring. We’re off to Berlin as this post is going live so that’s another one for the checklist!
10. Getting out of my comfort zone
Newsflash, you don’t die. Ha. In Crete we went dirt buggy driving and I fell off a jet ski and it was awesome and I didn’t die so, happy days!
11. Discovering Homeboys
A.K.A basically being born again and discovering Korean street food.
12. Getting more confident taking ‘blogger’ photos
You know the ones you see and you’re like omg so candid, so cute. Yeah they’re the most posed photos ever but people like to see the person behind the brunch sometimes (I know I do!) so you’ve just gotta brave the 5 second embarrassment of people looking at you taking a photo and not care.
13. Pizza
At least once a week.
14. Faux fur everything
Faux fur has been my winter go-to for pretty much everything and I’m loving it. Just so floofy.
15. Not following trends if they don’t suit you
I mean, specifically the grey checked blazer trend. I LOVED it but I couldn’t for the life of me find one that I liked perfectly that fitted me how I wanted it to. So I gave up and saved my money. Yay.
16. Saying no to stuff
At the moment I’m only working with brands I like or like the look of and I’m stopping doing so many random collaborations that don’t mean anything to me. And it’s great! I enjoy it more and everything is more authentic so it’s fabby all round.
17. Investing in my first designer handbag
I mean, I bought a DVF bag a few years ago and I just didn’t click with it. We were like ships in the night – just not making each other happy. So, I sold old Diane and felt like I wasn’t a designer bag gal. Until, on Boxing Day evening I was having a scroll through and found a lovely little Rebecca Minkoff camera bag for £90!
18. Hitting over 4 years with my boyfriend and best friend
Soppy but cute. Love ya boo.
19. Meeting more awesome girls in the blogging community
There have been so many more great events in the past 6 or so months and I’m finally finding my feet with some lovely girls that I know I can have a great chat with over some food and cocktails and I don’t feel so awkward at events anymore.
20. Seeing my favourite bands
I’ve seen Don Broco and Hands like Houses twice (by the time this post goes live!) and I just love them both so much it makes me really excited to see them live. What are your favourite bands?
21. Feeling settled
Just that. Nottingham is my home now and for someone that’s moved around a fair bit in their life, that feels nice.
22. Downsizing my blog
As I said above I’m only working with brands I like and I’ve downsized to only two posts a week and the stress is so much less. It’s so much more manageable and the pressure on myself is so much less.
23. Saving more money
Realising that I don’t need to shop so much means you can save money for important shit. Boring but sensible.
24. The library
This is a very recent new found love. I forgot that these even existed and I’ve just joined up to our city centre one and it’s so cute to just go and pick out a book and chill reading it in bed at night. Then, you give it back and you don’t have to have it cluttering up your life. Winning!
25. Little things
I’m loving the #FindingTheJoyInEveryday hashtag on Insta and it’s so cute and it’s just so nice to just think about the little things that make your day really cute. Having a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a 4pm treat to get you through the last bit of work, watching Friends in bed on a Saturday morning and having a totally clean flat. Just some of the little things that are just super nice.
What are your little things that make you happy?
Such a cute post! Happy early birthday for tomorrow and I hope you have a lovely time in Berlin!
Jess x