2014 Reflections & My 2015 Goals

New Year. New Nish. 

I said that last year, along with 95% of the population. 

Looking back at my YouTube video and post on my 2014 resolutions (see here) has been strange and quite frankly, depressing, because not only has it made me miss my long locks, but also serves as a stark reminder that I have failed. Failed to learn to drive. Failed to save money. Failed to travel.

However, I've (sort of) stuck to 3 of the 6 resolutions; I have gymmed 3 times a week (most weeks), continued to develop and write my blog, and am finally starting to get to grips with "eating well", and by this, I mean I have felt less need to 'binge' and yo-yo diet, and am beginning to view my dietery habits as a lifestyle choice. Go me! 

I have also, somehow, against all odds, acquired a boyfriend along the way, and although this was by no means a resolution, I feel that anyone who has been subjected to my endless discussions surrounding 'the one', heard my cries and ultimately seen me embrace the single life like an independent woman (thank God for Destiny's Child), will understand the significance of this milestone. Oh, and FYI, single lyf for the last 4 years…totally my choice. 

Anyway, I wanted to make a list of my goals for 2015 because, well, I always find that writing down a list is a great motivator. This year, I want to steer away from the standard resolutions surrounding weight loss and money goals and make some more personal aims:

1) Learn to drive - I'm taking this baby from last year and carrying it over to this year. I will be behind a steering wheel by December 2015. 

2) Read more books - I don't read as much as I'd like. I am constantly finding new books I'd love to read, but thanks to YouTube and my mild obsession with various fashion / beauty channels which started this year, the publications have become mere ornaments for my pretty plain bedside table. Less YouTube before bed, more reading.  

3) Become more geographically aware - The Christmas period has highlighted just how poor my general knowledge really is, and this does my competitive character no favours. If I lose one more game of articulate / pointless / a pub quiz, I will cry. So I have ordered a world map to stick on my wall. Come 2016, you'll all be begging me to be on your team!

4) Run a half marathon - I've been a keen runner for around 3 years now but rarely run longer than 5km at a time (a mixture of shin splints and disbelief in myself). However, I recently ran the whole of Richmond Park (11.7km) with my auntie, something which I never believed I could do, and now am keen to push myself to run the Richmond half marathon on 22nd March 2015. It's a challenge, but what is life without challenge? 

5) Go on at least one museum trip / theatre trip a month - I live in London. There are a lot of free galleries and museums to be making the most of (and cheap theatre tickets). In 2014, I probably visited about two. This will change.

6) Visit New York - A naive and foolish 20 year old me made my sister a promise that for her 16th birthday I'd take her to New York. Obviously assuming I'd be in a full-time, well paid job with my very own place to live, this seemed attainable at the time. Yeah, young and foolish. But what can I say, I'm an optimist, and by 2016, we will hopefully both have experienced the Big Apple.

7) Develop a new skill - I haven't decided what yet, but I want to try new things. Maybe a dance class, an art class, a course in journalism or coding. I want to continue to learn and develop as a person, and if that means shaking my booty to Beyonce's single ladies or penciling in a naked man's willy at a life drawing class, then so be it!

8) Introduce more structure to da blog - I'm thinking of introducing a weekly post: 'Thoughtful Thurdays'. A post of personal musings where I contemplate and discuss anything from current affairs to inspirational quotes, stories or people I've come across that week. I'm really enjoying writing this little space of mine on the internet and would like to dedicate more time to see it grow and develop by 2016.

SO laterz 2014 and helloooo 2015. I welcome you with open arms.

Again, totally my choice. I mean, getting stuck in the past never did anyone any favours. Except for Taylor Swift. Reliving her roller coaster of relationships has resulted in every girl wanting to be her best friend, every record label wanting to sign her, and every man wishing they could a) be her next 'one' or b) have access to her bank account.

XOXO

New Video: My New Years Resolutions 2014

Hey hey hey!

It’s that time of the month again…and no I’m not talking about the one which causes an emotional roller coaster more turbulent than Thorpe Park’s Stealth (I still don’t understand why us women are put through it just as much as I don’t understand people’s enjoyment of upside down roller coasters).

After several requests from my lovely bunch of friends, I thought it was about time I filmed another video…whether they want to laugh at me or with me, I haven’t quite figured out yet, but either way, it would be rude to ignore demands such as “Please do more…you’re actually insane” (thanks Gabster) and “I love it so much…I can watch them on repeat and not get bored” (thanks Katy).

The way I see it, January is renowned for two things:

1) January blues; the depressive, melancholy state we often find ourselves in after the Christmas holidays are over.  Phrases such as “I’ve got so fat over Christmas I resemble a pregnant Rhino” and “I’d rather eat my own toe than go back to work” are commonplace.

2) New Years Resolutions; The New Year is often a time for self reflection, and the whole new year, fresh start palaver leads many to try and reinvent themselves for the better.

…and this is exactly what my video entails.

New Years Resolutions often revolve around the following; health, money, social life / hobbies, relationships, work, friends / family, physical environment and personal growth. I didn’t want to over-do it and risk failing every single one, so I picked 6 and rambled about them in a video.

So in my attempt to recreate a Super-Nish, here are my New Years Resolutions for 2014…

Click here to watch :)

xoxo 

A Review of Tinder: Is Romance Dead?

Helloooooo people!

So here we are. 2014. 

I have officially eaten enough food to feed the five thousand, drank enough booze to make George Best look teetotal, and am one step closer to a heart attack since my last post! Thanks a lot Christmas (although it was totally worth it). 

One of my New Years Resolutions was to blog once a week. Well that failed as we've already hit the third week of January and this is my first post of 2014...oh time fliiies. But now I'm back baby!

2014 has, as I'm sure it has many of you, led me to question things in my life / look at things in a new light. Job, living situation, appearance, friends...relationships. 

Particularly the dreaded r-word. 

In 2013, one by one my friends slowly started getting boyfriends. Now I've been single for approaching two and a half years now, and I've actually been really happy. Don't get me wrong, relationships are great too (I do not say this from personal experience...my ex and I created our very own World War III in the three and a half years we were together...oh young love). But as more and more of my friends began their very own love story, I began questioning... 

Why is it I'm being left behind when some friends have had more boyfriends than Taylor Swift?

How many frogs do I have to kiss before finding my Prince? 

Where and when will "the one" appear?

And I feel almost more guilty for not having a boyfriend with the emergence of apps like tinder. I remember a day when internet dating was solely associated with desperate, socially recluse weirdos searching for a chance of happiness with some other poor, equally strange / desperate being. It was also associated with the older generation. Young people and internet dating were rarely used in the same sentence. And here we are, in 2014, with this new dating app which has become so popular it makes Facebook look pedestrian.

 So how have we got here? What happened to the good old fashioned world of dating where a man wooed a woman face to face...where people actually met first and exchanged numbers after?

I felt even worse about my current relationship status when I heard stories of friends of friends and their experiences on Tinder. One described having the "best date of [her] life" while another has been wined and dined simultaneously by three guys she got talking to on it. So I thought I'd give the app a go...

...139 matches and two months later, I had some pretty odd proposals...

"I'll be Burger King and you be McDonalds, I'll be having it my way and you'll be loving it" 

"Ahhh so annoying, really wanna blowey. I'm so fed up with my five finger shuffle"

"My mate who I'm sitting next to told me to like you on his behalf"

"Sit on my face and I'll eat my way to your heart"

Charming! 

I also learnt that people aren't always who they say they are...(as much as I did love this one)! 

...and I made a few discoveries...

1) I only used it when I was bored as a form of entertainment,

2) I found myself thinking 'When the hell did I like you...I must've been either half asleep or drunk?!' over and over again,

3) I could never be bothered to actually talk to any 'matches', even if they were Ryan Gosling lookalikes. 

The fact of the matter is...I had no clue who these people were. And no desire to get to know them. 

The pure existence of the app itself also made me realise that life isn't a fairytale, but if it was, I certainly wouldn't be meeting my Prince Charming on Tinder....nor would I want to.

It's superficial. A persons appearance is the one and only definitive factor which determines the users choice of whether they swipe left or right. Surely there's more to a person than their looks...after all, Belle certainly didn't choose to be with The Beast for his dashing smile and muscular physique!

So after pondering all of this, I have decided that I am still happy as larry being single, and my search for the one has officially come to a halt this year. I have also decided that when he does eventually turn up at my door with his witty charm, Irish accent and a bunch of roses, it'll all be down to fate, not a million dollar dating app which, in my opinion, is more of a social platform for casual sex than anything else. 

Next week I'll be uploading another YouTube video on New Years Resolutions so stay tuned :) 

xoxo