Whilst trying to plan holidays and weekends away for this year I thought I would look back at a little trip I took last year. Having wanted to visit since I was a child, (I always used to ask to go on holiday there) I finally got to visit Ireland last November. My boyfriend is from Northern Ireland so we went across and stayed with his parents on the outskirts of Belfast for a few days, visited the beautiful North coast for a day, and then headed down to Dublin for a few days too! It was such an amazing and adventure packed little holiday and Ireland definitely lived up to my high expectations. I can't wait to go back one day!
I mentioned in my last post that I had given myself a bit of a project to be more positive about everything in my life. I am a chronic complainer and worrier and have always been the first to have a moan about something that's not going right, but recently this started to affect my personal life a little bit and so I realised I needed to change something. A few of the circumstances in my life have changed too, which have helped a lot, but I also know that it starts with me and I needed to change my mindset and outlook.
A few weeks ago I started writing a list each night before I went to sleep of ten things from the day that had made me smile or that I was happy or grateful for! This did only last less than a week, which is not much dedication on my part, but I do think it made a difference to my general outlook. My plan when I started was to make a blog post from some of them so here goes.
Things that I was/am grateful for or happy about:
Sunny days in Edinburgh.
Getting to know new people at work.
Having a to-do list for my day off, knowing it will be both relaxing and productive.
Listening to 'Saturday Night' by Whigfield and remembering my friends and I doing the dance routine in The Shack (the night I met Tim)!
Feeling very grateful to live in such a lovely part of the city, somewhere I'd always dreamt of living.
Feeling inspired to start the proper training for becoming a Brownie leader.
Starting the day with cuddles.
Making French toast with syrup, bananas and blueberries for breakfast.
Chatting to my Grandpa about the football and rugby.
Feeling like I'm learning something new.
Spending my day off in a coffee shop, writing blog posts...like old times!
The fact that I can sleep until 11am on my days off.
Enjoying my own company.
Discovering Oban Live. If only I could get a weekend off...KT Tunstall, Julie Fowlis and Capercaillie all playing on the same day!
A friend reminding me to "Keep climbing the ladder."
Pancakes!
Watching (and laughing at) Tattoo Fixers with Tim.
Finding new music.
Realising not everyone knows what their doing with their life.
Having neglected my blog for almost six months, I'm really hoping to get back into regular posting from now on. As I have said on here before, I appreciate all of you that come back here and remain loyal followers throughout all of my little blogging breaks. I thought I'd start back with one of my 'Lately' posts just to share what I've been up to lately.
Thinking: too much. I've always been an over-thinker and I find it really hard to switch off from everything going on in my life. It's not as if I actually have major stresses to deal with, just that my mind tends to work quite a lot of overtime. I need to find a way to wind down.
Enjoying:planning holidays! The new year blues make everyone start dreaming about their summer getaways. I have flights booked to head to Barcelona in June with my two best girlfriends and Tim and I have been looking at holidays in Croatia for September. Suggestions are welcome if anyone has been to either of these places!
Feeling:positive. I am a chronic complainer and I have always been a bit moany! My sister renamed me 'Moana Fiona' on our Facebook chat for goodness sake!! However I have made the decision that I need to be a lot more positive about everything and do a lot less complaining. I gave myself a little project (which may appear on here soon) to write down 10 good things about the day every night before bed (which lasted for about a week!) and it made me realise that I have a lot to be happy about.
Wearing: M&S True Red perfume.
This is my all time favourite scent and I am constantly worried that they'll discontinue it. I've almost finished my most recent bottle so it'll soon be time to stock up again. I think it's a really nice smell, and it's not super expensive.
Needing: a break. Retail over the Christmas period can be really hectic and overwhelming. Let's just say that I desperately need my week off work next week. I'll be heading home to The Borders for a few days and I might use the free time to redeem the Christmas present I got for a Thai massage.
Buying:not much!! I'm trying hard to save money for the holidays that I'm planning so I'm resisting the temptation to buy clothes and expensive lunches when I'm at work. I will still treat myself every now and again, but when I'm about to purchase an unnecessary Starbucks I need to think about my holidays!
Watching: Tim and I took a break from watching Mr Robot on Amazon Prime to watch Making a Murderer, we had to see what all the hype was about. I've also watched my way through the first two seasons of Nashville lately and season 6 of The Good Wife before the new one starts. I'm currently watching How To Get Away With Murder and Chelsea Does. I honestly spend far too much time on Netflix!!
Listening to:Bear's Den and The Nashville cast.
I'd heard of Bear's Den before but never actually listened to any of their music. One of their songs was on my 'Discover Weekly' playlist on Spotify last week and since then I've kind of fallen in love with their music, it's right up my street. After watching Nashville I started listening to the songs from the series. I'm a massive fan of that kind of American country-pop music and I absolutely love the singing voice of Clare Bowen who plays Scarlett. The programme is well worth a watch if you're a fan of country music.
Eating:brunch! Tim and I had brunch of a full Scottish breakfast at The Smoke Stack on Broughton Street a few weeks ago, which I'd definitely recommend. I've also made myself french toast on my last two days off which is a lot more effort than I'd usually make for myself but was definitely worth it.
Drinking:Gin and Tonic. I've never been a massive fan of tonic water so I'd usually drink gin with soda water instead. However, I'm now, finally, coming round to the taste of tonic so I can enjoy a good G&T! My favourites are Hendricks or the flavoured gins by Edinburgh Gin. You have to try the rhubarb and ginger one if you ever get the chance!
Making:my own hashtag! I had thought about setting up another Instagram account to share my photos of Edinburgh. However, instead, I have created a hashtag #FionasEdinburgh to share these photos, I've gone back and added my hashtag to all of my old Edinburgh photos and it's quite nice seeing them all in one place.
