My top 5 posts from 2016

Having re-started this blog in July, I have since written 42 posts and received nearly 3000 views. Now for some bloggers, this probably isn’t very much but I haven’t really put much work into growing and promoting my blog so I’d have been pretty chuffed to end the year with 10 views!

I love to write and to share little parts of my world with you all. Work- and life-permitting, I would like to do more with my blog in 2017 – that isn’t a New Year’s Resolution though (I’ve never been one to make resolutions).

Blogmas saw me set and complete a new challenge and I saw a lot more traffic on the blog throughout December (thanks!) so when I started looking through my stats to pull together my top 5 posts from 2016, I definitely thought it’d be all about Christmas. It really isn’t though….

3 easy DIY tree decorations for non-craft people

I love putting up my Christmas tree. I have a compact, easy-to-put-up artificial tree (real ones aren’t my preference) with two-tone green needles giving it a pretty good natural look. My tree decorations are an eclectic mix of old, new, bought and hand-made items. And I love coming home from work, leaving the main lights off but putting the tree lights on. It gives me such a calm, warm, festive feeling.

I love to hand-make crafts and people always tell me that they wish they had the same skills. Well, I’m here to tell you that crafts don’t have to be challenging, time-consuming or packed full of learned skills to be beautiful, effective and well-received.

Here are 3 really easy crafts to make lovely tree decorations (for you to keep for yourself or to give as gifts):

Christmas in Birmingham

When people think of Birmingham at Christmas, they tend to think of the Frankfurt Christmas Market and Christmas Craft Market which fill up New Street, Victoria Square and Centenary Square every year and are accompanied by the ice rink and the big wheel. For those who live in the city centre though, it is the time of year when eye-rolling, crowd-hating, and needing additional time to get anywhere becomes the norm.

Don’t get me wrong the markets are lovely to look at but year after year they’re set out exactly the same, selling the exact same products and charging the earth for food and drink, and yet people come in their thousands.

Extra-curricular activities for grown ups

Thoughts out of the gutter, please, my post title refers to totally safe-for-work activities! This post is a little more light-hearted after my last post. And, whilst I appreciate the support and concern, I am truly ok – just felt it was the right time to address the issue with the recent start of the new rugby season.

Anyway, after the break-down of a relationship nearly a year ago, I realised that my life had become a boring routine of go to work – go to the gym – go home. My friendship group had grown smaller over the years, something which I don’t see negatively as I hold much more value in having just a handful of truly out of this world friends, but we often have conflicting work schedules allowing planned catch ups only when diaries finally align maybe once or twice a month. I realised that, as a child, I always had a string of extra-curricular activities on the go. But, as a 30 year old, this had seemingly stopped being a concept I pursued in my life.

I made a list at the start of this year of things I love to do. Things that I enjoy but for some reason just weren’t part of my life, or as much part of my life as I’d like them to be, or that I’d stopped doing during my now-ended relationship. I’m happy to share this list with you (excuse my doodles. I love list-making but I also love doodling!).

5 things you should know about Birmingham

Although I wasn’t born in Birmingham, it is definitely the place I call home and have done for many years. It’s an amazing city, full of diversity and so many great things to see and do.

Here are 5 things you should know about England’s second city:

Give something back or pay it forward

Whichever way you look at it, doing a good deed or helping someone out always feels so rewarding.

For me, the best way to do this is by volunteering. I’ve written before about the voluntary work I’ve done over the years but seeing as this week was National Volunteers Week and it’s just over 100 days until the start of the Rugby World Cup, I thought I’d write a bit about what I’ve been up to.

Rugby is a huge part of my life and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved at some wonderful community clubs and carried out various roles over the last 10 years. I was therefore always going to find a way to be involved with the Rugby World Cup. To be hosting the tournament in England (with a few games over in Wales) and building on the incredible success of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the team at England 2015 are working incredibly hard to ensure our nation delivers one of the best sports tournaments the world will have ever seen. And I have no doubt, it’s going to be amazing.

Get Me Out Of Here!

On our flight to Madrid last Sunday, my boyfriend remarked that in the past year alone we have been out of the country five times. Blessed as we are that we can travel so easily and visit so many amazing places, it is in my nature to get away from England as often as I can (I get itchy feet if I stay in one place for too long) and I do work unbelievably hard to be able to treat myself in this way. Our trip to Madrid was for four nights – with life as hectic as it is, we couldn’t find a whole week free between now and November! – and we had a great time exploring the city and relaxing.

This weekend, in England, is the Spring bank holiday so many people will have the long weekend off before work again on Tuesday. As I had my little holiday already, I have family coming up to visit and haven’t planned on doing much except eating lots and relaxing.

The Time is Now

I wrote a few weeks ago about the up-coming General Election and it created some really interesting conversations and discussions. Something really important which came up was that lots of people didn’t realise they need to register to vote.

The process for voter registration changed in June 2014 and now it is up to each individual to register (it used to be a single household registration which would list all names of eligible voters in that house). An upside of this change though is that you can now register online, making it even easier to do.

An October 2014 report suggested that 9 in 10 people were automatically transferred to the new system but if you were the 1 in 10 who were missed off, or if you weren’t registered to begin with, then you need to get it sorted.

Monday 20^th April is the deadline for voter registration.

Registering online literally takes less than 

Four weeks to go…

…and then life, as I’ve known it for the past three years, will suddenly be very different.

Why, you ask? Because on the 8^th May, I have two assignment deadlines, my final lecture, and my last ever assessed seminar.

Although I will officially still be a student, I’ll have no responsibilities left after the 8^th towards completing my degree at UCB. I will be finished. Three years of really hard work will come to an end. I will breathe the biggest sigh of relief, and probably shed a few exhausted tears.

This Girl Can

Hopefully, lots of you will have seen this advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg or the billboards and posters that have appeared across UK towns since January. They are part of a campaign supported by Sport England to celebrate and encourage women in sport – no matter who they are, what sport or exercise they do, what level they take part at, or how they look doing it.

I think this campaign is fabulous. I love sports and have actively taken part in loads of different sports since I was young. I love team sports but I also enjoy going for a swim or doing Body Balance. I am a red-faced, sweaty competitor, but I don’t care because I love being active. I’ve also coached rugby for nearly 10 years and this side of sport is just as important to me.

(Image shared with permission from This Girl Can)

I’ve always been aware though of female friends who