It's Friday morning, I've got my coffee, sunshine pouring in - as it has all week, so feel good - and I thought I'd write one of my favourite posts. Here's a little list of 10 things that have made me happy this week.
1. As I already mentioned - the sun has been shining all week. I've had an edit heavy week, which means a lot of work from home days. Sunlight beaming into our home is one of the best simple pleasures in life.
2. My best friend Abi turned up unannounced with coffee and homemade vegan Snickers on Wednesday. She ended up staying the whole evening. What a treat.
3. We've just had our bathroom redone and I am IN LOVE. Is it weird to want to work from your bathroom?
4. 70's style. Give all the floaty sleeves, flares and chunky platform boots.
5. Good Winter TV - Deadwater Fell, The Stranger, Cold Feet, Sex Education - there's a lot to watch at the moment.
6. Roasted Veggie & Lentil Jumble I had in my Hello Fresh box this week. It was one of the nicest meals I've had in a long time. Tasty, healthy and a good one for when Henry is out and I want something filling and nutritious.
7. Buying a new little house plant to fill one of my favourite pots that's been waiting for a housemate for a while. I'm so eager to get back out in the garden when Spring rolls back around so for now, new houseplants to look after can fill that void.
8. An app that's a newbie in my life, it's called 'Habit'. You can track if you're keeping up with habits you're trying to make stick - it's colourful, simple and visually pleasing - I'm tracking reading, drinking more water and waking up before 8am.
9. Speaking of reading - I'm on book 3 of the year and I'm loving getting lost in another world. It's a really nice break from screen-time which is at a big high right now.
10. Still feeling those new year productivity vibes. I usually find January to be a pretty positive month for me - albeit a bloody long one - and February I start to tick back to my usual headspace. This year that 'lets push forward' feeling seems to be sticking around and you won't see me complaining!
So there you go, 10 little things that made me happy this week. What's put a smile on your face?
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Oh hey there! Hope January is treating you well. As you can see we've had a mini re-brand! 'Love on the Wall' is no more and now my blog simply goes by the same name as me. (just my URL to sort, bare with!) I've taken a step back to see how I want to use my online space this year, with a change of job too, I want it to sit nicely together and keeping it simple feels like the right direction.
More Moving. Run another 5k.
I think that's enough for now, we got some big ol' goals there! I'll be realistic about it, but there's nothing there that's unachievable and a lot of things that will equate to happier, healthy and more fulfilled Georgia. And I'm very much here for that.
G x
So, Twenty Twenty is here! How on earth we got here and we're not still traipsing through a rainy 2019 Feb, I have no idea. I bloomin' love a new year though, I feel all those positive vibes kick in and I feel ready to take on the world. I always find the New Year hits and I haven't started thinking about my goals for the year ahead, so instead of rushing them so I can start them the moment the clock strikes 12, I usually take a few days to really evaluate what I'd like to achieve in the next 365 days.
Last year I started running (who am I?) and in September I ran my first 5k! Running was never something I enjoyed growing up but despite finding it tough, it seems to kinda work for me. I can do where ever, whenever and it's free. I want to pick it back up again - when it's not dark and 0 degrees outside, let's be honest - and enter myself into another 5k. I try not too be too hard on my body - it keeps me alive and it's a bloody wonderful thing. However, I do want to feel stronger and healthier so I hope to make a bit of a fitness journey this year to find my groove. (I'd also really like to fit comfortably into my Topshop jeans again, please, thanks.)
More Creating.
I'd like to focus on expanding my skills and creating more in 2020. Learning new ways to edit, new settings on my camera, practising more calligraphy, getting to grips with procreate on my iPad, trying new things, testing new ways. My job is creative - and at the end of last year I went part-time free lance, so it's on me now! - so I want to feel inspired and have new ideas, that won't happen if I sit in my comfort zone. I want to look back on 2020 and see work (and play) that I'm truly proud I created.
More Cooking.
In 2019, one of my goals was to cook more and learn more recipes. With it being my first full year living in my house, this was bound to happen but I made an active effort to try new things. We actually ordered a few Hello Fresh boxes which broadened our 'go-to' recipes massively and it's ideal when we have a busy week. It's an expensive treat though, this year I'd like to work out those cupboard/fridge essentials to create quick, healthy but delicious meals from scratch at home. Ooh and to find some signature dishes that I can nail every time!
More Reading.
There's no escapism quite like it is there? Despite that, I never dedicate enough time to getting lost in another world with a good book. I want to cut down my screen time so I really want to get into the habit of reading on my commute. I read 6 books last year, so I want to top that! More podcasts and audiobooks too - for when my square eyes need a break entirely.
More... Me?
Lately, I've been really thinking about who I am. About to get a lil deep, bare with me. I'm very easily influenced by what people around me are doing, saying, wearing, thinking, even bloody eating. Sometimes I have to make a conscious effort to make sure I'm doing something because I want to do it, not because everybody else is doing it. I'm always walking that fine line of 'am I inspired? or completely influenced?' and it's starting to play on my mind. I want to take a bit of time to find me this year - whether that's in my clothes, my political views, my photography or even what I'm having for lunch (although food envy is never a good thing, so maybe I'll continue to copy on this one...) I'm totally aware I need to remind myself I'm an actual adult more than I do - an adult with valid points, opinions, thoughts and feelings. I do think it's something that comes with age and something I feel more confident in every year. Caring about what other people think plays a huge part in this too, if I'm doing what everyone else is doing then no one can say anything - which isn't entirely true, but feels like a safe space. Saying this, I also need to remind myself it is okay to stay neutral about something or to like the same things as other people, it doesn't mean it's copying or unoriginal - maybe it's just a really great thing? Oh, what a mind f*ck. Either way, a little clarity on who I am in 2020 please.
I think that's enough for now, we got some big ol' goals there! I'll be realistic about it, but there's nothing there that's unachievable and a lot of things that will equate to happier, healthy and more fulfilled Georgia. And I'm very much here for that.
G x
As I sit in my living room, surrounded by flickering candles and fluffy blankets, with the wind and rain whipping against the window, it reaffirms my love for this season.
Some friends actually have a joke about how much I love Autumn ~ I am genuinely obsessed ~ but it's the simple pleasures that make this season such a joy for me.
Basically, without wanting to sound like the girl in Mean Girls who wants to bake 'a cake filled with rainbows and smiles', I just love Autumn because it's just so bloomin' wholesome. It's such small, natural joys that happen every year. It's the ever changing colours of the leaves. It's the vibrant red, orange, brown, green, burgundy splashed across the countryside. It's the fact you can enjoy it, whatever the weather. It's crisp, cold but sunny days where you can go outside and enjoy the colour changing landscapes. It's rainy, cloudy, windy days where you light the candles, wrap up warm and fully embrace the cosiness of your home. It's the way the light changes in my house, the warm light glow streaming in. It's picking pumpkins and buying far more than you need. It's the chunky jumpers, the boots and the dresses you've had stored away since Spring. It's hunting for conkers among the crunchy leaves. It's never needing an excuse for Sunday roasts and apple crumble with custard. It's the golden hour light and vibrant sunsets. It's the nostalgic scent of carving pumpkins. It's the excited little trick or treaters knocking at your door at Halloween. It's wrapping up in all the layers, juggling hot chocolates and burgers with fried onions watching fireworks. All of this, topped off with my birthday and the exciting lead up to, dare I say it, Christmas.
A lot of gushing about this blaaaddy beautiful time of year, but I quite honestly do not shut up about it. It's a constant source of happiness for me - it makes me embrace the big, the small, the outdoors, the indoors, the lot.
What's your favourite season?
G x
If you had told me, at the age of 15, that one day I'd be running weekly and entering my first ever 5k, I would have laughed in your face...
Well hey 15 year old G, you just ran your first 5k!
Let's take it right back to school. I dreaded PE lessons. Unless it was a sunny game of rounders or the term we did girls football and it turned out I was actually not that awful at it... I was not a fan. The fear of summer rolling round to be told it was time for 'Athletics' and House Cross Country was my worst nightmare. Athletics would see me give my best shot at the 100m race to 1500m race, but ultimately I'd come in the last few people time and time again. Running up to that finish line while the rest of the class sit and watch you is the ultimate confidence boost when you're a hormonal 14 year old, right? All for your time to be written down, never to be addressed again and your teacher to say 'Right, on to Shot Put.' House Cross Country was even worse. The entire school all running the same track and cheering at the finish line, a day my best friend Charlie and I would absolutely dread and think of every excuse under the sun to get out of (however never go through with implementing any excuses because there was no way out. You just had to run it the following week instead. And we were in this together.) We got through it by running down the hills, pointing out random lost shoes and wondering how on earth they got there and singing songs from The Mighty Boosh. We'd run up the final hill approaching the corner of cheering crowds towards the finish line and hope the ground would swallow us up. But then, just like Athletics, we'd finish and the time would be written down and I wouldn't have to think about it until next year.
It wasn't until I started running myself this year, I realised just how damaging those lessons were for my thoughts around exercise. 'I can't run' 'I'm definitely not a runner' became a stock phrase throughout my life because I'd never been taught the importance of TRAINING. Now I will say, I absolutely loved my school and I understand we were young, schools can't adjust to every child's ability and this was a good ten or so years ago now, however training and building up fitness and skill is not a new concept. Why didn't they use each lesson to teach students to strive for a little more than they managed last time? Why weren't they teaching us how to train our bodies? How amazing I would have felt if I started the term unable to run 500m and finished it with a 500m run well within my capabilities? I know for a fact I'd of enjoyed the thought of PE lessons a lot more if I felt like I had achieved something at the end of term, not just a scribbled down time and a whole load of embarrassment. I'd probably attempted going for a run a maximum of 6 times since I left school and every-time felt defeated and to be honest, pretty shit because I just couldn't do it.
It wasn't until I started running myself this year, I realised just how damaging those lessons were for my thoughts around exercise. 'I can't run' 'I'm definitely not a runner' became a stock phrase throughout my life because I'd never been taught the importance of TRAINING. Now I will say, I absolutely loved my school and I understand we were young, schools can't adjust to every child's ability and this was a good ten or so years ago now, however training and building up fitness and skill is not a new concept. Why didn't they use each lesson to teach students to strive for a little more than they managed last time? Why weren't they teaching us how to train our bodies? How amazing I would have felt if I started the term unable to run 500m and finished it with a 500m run well within my capabilities? I know for a fact I'd of enjoyed the thought of PE lessons a lot more if I felt like I had achieved something at the end of term, not just a scribbled down time and a whole load of embarrassment. I'd probably attempted going for a run a maximum of 6 times since I left school and every-time felt defeated and to be honest, pretty shit because I just couldn't do it.
Fast forward to this year, after seeing the London Marathon on TV and thinking how incredible crossing the finish line must be, I decided I wanted to enter a run myself. I have no idea why I suddenly felt inspired by the idea, but it felt like something I could do solely for me, my body and my mind and absolutely no one else. I started at the idea of the marathon... then had a big reality check, scaled it back and decided to aim for a 5k (baby steps, Georgia, baby steps). I downloaded the BBC app 'Couch to 5k' that I had seen popping up on Instagram and gave it a go. That first run was hard - run for 1 minute, walk for 90 seconds, 8 times - Embarrassingly, running for 1 minute was tough for me but for the first time ever, having this app playing in my headphones meant I could run for one minute, recover for 90 seconds whilst walking... and the run again! Rather than giving up the moment I felt like dying, I realised I was capable of doing more, but I had to train my body and up my fitness levels to do so. Week one complete, week two was even harder... and unsurprisingly so was week three, four, five... however I GOT FITTER! I could do it. This app show me how to train, how to push myself that little bit further each week. As the runs got longer, I did find it tough and I couldn't always keep up but I went easy on myself, If I needed longer to complete a run before moving onto the next week, then longer I shall have.
I signed up for the 'The Color Run' with my two friends, Emma and Jasmin. I thought I'd start with something fun, I loved the idea of being covered in colours and The Color Run isn't timed, you can complete the run however you'd like. A few nights before the run, I had a big cry about it. I had this looming feeling that I wish I'd never told anybody I was doing it. Knowing that both Em & Jas could run further than me, I felt upset at the thought of crossing the finish line knowing it would just be yet another run I would come last in. (spoiler, I was wrong, the girls didn't leave my side... duh)
I felt better after a sleep and woke up knowing that how I felt when I crossed that finish line, was entirely up to me. I had to remember how bloody far I had come and leave comparison at the starting line. My best run up this point had been 8 minutes solid running, then alternating between running and walking until I hit 4.5k. Run day came, we set off, already covered in paint and I was determined to keep up with the girls - who had assured me there was no way they were running ahead anyway.
WE RAN THAT 5K.
We stuck together, we had a few very short walking stints, but our pace remained the same and then we would power through the pain and start running again. That feeling crossing the line was incredible. I was so proud of myself.
I couldn't have done the run without my sisters by my side. Jasmin was a fellow Couch to 5k gal, also running her first 5k and Emma was an absolute star, she kept us going, kept up the pace and was our best cheerleader throughout. (*Georgia a year later here* Emma and her boyfriend Rory are currently running 5k EVERYDAY(!!!!) in August, it's for such an important cause - if you'd like to support them, please donate here)
To anyone looking to challenge themselves or start running, start small and celebrate your progress, you might just surprise yourself!
Last month, Henry and I packed our suitcases and flew off to Kos for a week of sun, sea and endless greek salads. I wanted to round up some of my favourite photos from the week in a post - nothing too wordy but I want to have on here as it was an absolutely magic week. So blissful to get away with Hen and leave all the little worries behind and just be us two.
We stayed in the TUI Sensimar Oceanis Beach and Spa Resort and we were absolutely blown away by it. The hotel was absolutely beautiful, the food was just incredible every day (breakfast choice was overwhelming, in the best way) and the staff did everything they could to make your stay perfect.
Exploring Kos town - finding blue and white building hidden down cobbled paths and stumbling upon a row of restaurants along the seafront for dinner. We had gyros, greek salad, bread and black olive tapenade and squid whilst the sun set, delicious.
We day tripped to 'Paradise Beach'... and paradise just about cuts it. The beach at our hotel was pebbly, so the soft white sand at Paradise Beach was very welcome! The sea was calm and absolutely crystal clear.
Boat trip! We knew we wanted to book a boat trip whilst we were away as our boat day in Mallorca last year was absolutely blissful. Now, I'm all for Instagram vs. reality so for a good slice of reality, we made the best of a bad situation of this trip. It was waaay too overbooked which didn't make it the most relaxing trip. However, we managed to get good seats, we got to explore the beautiful fishing village, Kalymnos and we swam in the crystal clear seas. It was the only thing we weren't impressed with TUI with but as I said, we didn't let it ruin our time at all.
We spent our final evening having dinner at our hotel, then heading into Kos town for drinks and an explore. We wandered along the harbour as the sunset - Henry spent a lot of his childhood sailing so is one happy chappy admiring the boats. We wandered along the pretty backstreets to find the hidden gems between the tourist shops. I picked up a ring with the 'evil eye' on it - I have loved it ever since I was little and have wanted a ring of one for years.
Our last day consisted of water polo, aqua aerobics (which we actually did everyday at our hotel!) excessive amounts of Fanta Limon and soaking up the last of the sun. We arrived back to Gatwick and a very rainy UK in the very early hours... but returned to our home together for the first time ever.
Happy, happy holidays. x
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