That New Year post.....

So here we are staring down the barrell of yet another new year.

Well if you cant wear Top Hat at new year when can you!

It seems appropriate that since I have been somewhat slacking on the blog front I should do a post to make all my best intentions clear on what the new year will hold.

2013 for a variety of reasons is not going to be remembered as a great year. Family drama, work stress, and a series of rather unfortunate events meant that there was little to smile about for most of the time. However thats where New Years comes along to reboot everything back to zero :-)

My year really kicked off on a positive note when myself and some of my favourite folk headed to Club Noir for the bells. It was nice to make an effort to get glammed up a little and spend the night sipping cocktails with a bit of class (says me that wore possibly the most low cut dress ever!) If you're not from round these parts Club noir is a Burlesque club night thats held sporadically throughout the year in Glasgow. Theres a few entertainment acts but its fun because everyone that goes really gets into the spirit of it. New Year had a glamourous theme so it was a little gatsby/moulin rouge/ 50s-ish. The whole event made a pleasant change from the usual sticking to the dancefloor trying to dodge random drunks kind of place I usually end up at for New Years.

So in that respect 2014 is already kicking 2013 in the ass.

As for resolutions, I could earnestly sit here and proclaim i'm going to go to the gym and blog every day while eating nothing but quinoa and kale. But lets be a little bit more realistic shall we....

My main thing this year is i'd like to plan more. It seems a simple enough step. Taking some time every week to plan out what's happening when. I've purchased a new planner for the job (any excuse to hit the stationary section!) and i've set a reminder in my phone to go off on a sunday night to remind my to fill the thing in.

I'm going to try and meal plan. This is huge for me as in the past while I seem end up spending every night after work strolling the aisles of ASDA aimlessly while blindly filling my basket with cake. These trips are not only a waste of my time, but inevitably I end up spending money on rubbish I don't need and well the cakes are hardly great on the old weight front. So saving money and eating better are covered in one fowl swoop there :-)

As for the saving money...I had been doing so well but it all went to pot over the festive period. Obviously the whole christmas present buying thing was very much an expected expense, but the amount of money I managed to spend on myself over November/December period has essentially wiped any progress I had made. Having said that i am very happy with my new things. I shall do a haul soon, but it was definitely a case of quality over quantity which i have to say was a bit of a nicer feeling than the quick hit of a Boots run.

Do you have any new year resolutions? or more importantly any tips for sticking to them?

The girl that has everything and nothing...

WARNING: Incoherant babbling is about to occur.

Have you ever had a moment in life where everything suddenly became as clear as day.

I've just had one.

A while ago i posted about the whole spending ban phenomenon that seemed to be sweeping the blog community and my slight confusion about the concept and whether or not it was a completely great idea or just a one way ticket to a boring existence.

I wrote my piece and then pay day hit and i went on a mass spending spree, i bought stuff, all very nice stuff that i am happy to have in my life but at the end of the day its just stuff. The money i spent on that stuff could have paid off that pesky credit card that although i never use but still takes up 30 quid of my money every month to chip slowly away at the balance on it which was caused by me buying........ something....i cant quite remember what.

And that's when it hit me. I LOVE STUFF but in a very short space of time i'll forget all about it. A new lip gloss is not going to change my life, I hardly ever wear the stuff but I have 8 of them and really that's not ok.

I'm very lucky to have all the stuff i have. I work hard enough for it, I own my own home, I have more clothes in my wardrobe that i could find occasions to wear, i have more makeup than i could get through in a year, but most months by the time it gets to the 15th i'm working out how to make the £10 quid i have left in the bank feed and entertain me until the 25th (payday). And as much as i like beans with toast (yes 'with') its hardly an inspiring way to live.

I think what i'm finally realising is that when I'm old and grey i wont remember the 10,000 tops i got in Primark but i will remember nights out with my friends, the random weekends in foreign lands and the opportunities that i can jump at because i don't have to worry about stretching my pennies to breaking point.

Now i'm not planning on rushing out to sell all my possessions but i think i might not be adding to them for a good while. If i paid off all the things i have already it would afford my life so much more possibility than i feel i have at the moment and right about now sat in the flat on a cold Sunday night the concept of having 'possibilities' is far far more attractive to me than anything else in the entire world.

So, back to the spending ban idea, i think I've come to the conclusion that, for me, not buying some stuff now would not lead to a boring existence but randomly i think not buying 'stuff' could lead me to a whole new more exciting existence. I don't like the term 'ban' so i think i'll go on a splurge on payday, i'll work out exactly what i want to buy tot up the value........... and promptly pay that amount to my credit card bill.

The practice of this might be more difficult than me sitting here pondering about it, but right now, at this current moment, i really do feel like the girl that has everything and nothing at the same time.