November & December Recap

It's nearly 2020! The last two months have been amazing. I have spent loads of time with family (mostly Josh's, but family nonetheless!) had a great Christmas, watched a majority of the films on our Christmas film bucket list, went on a much-needed woodsy walk, and definitely lost weight! 2019 is ending on a high note. 

Best Books of 2019

My reading goal for 2019 (and two months of 2018!) started off at 100. About six months in I realized it wasn't going to happen, and changed it to 30. Now 2019 is nearly over, I would love to share with you my eight favourite reads of 2019.

Brockhill Country Park | Photo Diary

Josh and I love going on long walks. In fact, it was one of the first things we discovered we have in common! Unfortunately, we haven't really been for a decent walk since the weather turned cold, and after a few days of being stuck indoors, I needed to be surrounded by trees. So, on a whim, we decided to go to Brockhill Country Park.

Charlie's Christmas Eve Box

Well it's officially nearly Christmas! This year I'm really excited about Charlie's Christmas Eve box. He's had one since his first Christmas, lovingly made by my Auntie and Uncle, and this is the first year I really want to make an effort with it, and he may have a better understanding of the concept. I'm really excited to start this little tradition properly! 

My New Exercise Regime and Healthy Habits

Yep, yet another fitness-based blog post. How many of those have I posted over the last two years, and then totally ignored? This one is different! I'm absolutely going to stick to it this time! Today, I want to talk about how I plan to lose a little more weight, and tone up. 

Why I Decided to Throw Away the Scales

Well, I actually donated them to a charity shop but that doesn't work quite the same for a title. I digress. If you've been a long time reader of Simply Saph, you know I have been pretty desperate to lose the weight I gained after having Charlie. You'll also know, I haven't accomplished that yet.

at my heaviest, July 2019

'Tis The Season!

It's nearly that time of year again. Over the last few years I have really dreaded Christmas. I even wrote about it last year, and how I was struggling to get into the Christmas spirit. Pretty much all year long, I've been wanting to skip over Christmas, and cringing every time my boyfriend gets excited about it. Now that it's getting closer, however, I'm actually glad it's nearly Christmas?!

Christmas Film Bucket List

My boyfriend loves Christmas. He also loves films. In an attempt to get myself into the Christmas mood, I decided we're going to watch a Christmas film every night of December, from the 1st, to the 25th! Between the two of us, we managed to compile a pretty decent list I'd say. 

Five Small Businesses to Support

*Not an ad, nothing was gifted, I just love these businesses!

It's not very often that I shop online these days, but when I fancy myself some new artwork, there's always the same few small businesses that I'm drawn to! If you love cutesy illustrations, beautiful paintings, stickers and pin badges, or are in need of a new business logo; these are the businesses for you! 

Couples Bucket List

Josh and I have become one of those couples. There's so much we want to do, and we want to do it all together. So, we've created a bucket list. Obviously.

Restarting My Wicca Journey

I am the proud owner of seven Wicca/Witchcraft books, and I decided that 2019 was the year I restarted my Wicca journey by reading them all. Two of my books are actually spell books, so with those I did less reading and more of a quick flick through but I am still counting them towards my reading goal!

2019 TBR List

Only three more books to read before I complete my (adjusted) Goodreads goal! Normally I wait until I've finished a book before I pick out a new one, but for once I know exactly what books I want to read by the end of the year. Here's my 2019 TBR list:

4 Things To Do Before 2020

Oh look, another goals post. I do love my goals, but I didn't want to go back to my usual "November Goals/December Goals" posts like I've done every month of every year I've been blogging. So, after finding this little idea on Maisie's blog, I decided this was the one for me. So, what do I want to do before 2020? 

23 While I'm 23 Update

Well, it's been a long year, but I am finally, officially 24 years old. I feel a hell of a lot older sometimes though!

Life Lately | August-October

Once again, I wrote a comeback post in August and never came back properly. I promise though, this time I am! I decided to take my time with my comeback this time, and get a few posts prepared. At this moment in time, I really do only have a couple of posts, and I'm thinking my "official" comeback will be in 2020. Right now I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things, maybe change my blog around a bit. I do miss blogging, but I'm struggling to get excited about my blog right now. I'll get there though!

As for now, I figured another little life update would suffice.

Life Lately

Hello! Long time no see. Back in May, I decided once again that I was done with blogging. I didn't have the time, energy or inspiration for it so I just stopped. I stopped reading blogs too, unless one happened to catch my eye on Twitter. A few days ago, one in particular really caught my eye, and hey presto! Here's a blog post. 

Hello May!

April was such a busy month! I feel like I was always on the go but also had lots of time to relax, which was lovely. We also celebrated Mum's 59th birthday by getting my sisters to come visit, and went for a delicious lunch in a lovely pub. I was absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal but my god it was worth it.

Burgundy Blouse | 23 While I'm 23

I know you're probably sick to death of hearing about my 23 While I'm 23 list by now! However, the update posts are going to be coming in thick and fast as I have some catching up to do! I won't lie, I kind of regret making one of my 23 things 'blog about everything on this list' - I've literally been putting off writing this one for months! But the time has come.

Back in January 2018, I bagged myself a date. My first one since having Charlie. Obviously, I had nothing to wear so I dragged myself out shopping to find something. Eventually I found a cute burgundy blouse in New Look. I tried it on, loved it, bought it. But the date never happened. The blouse was banished to the back of my wardrobe, still loved but unworn.
 (I have no idea how to take photos of clothes)

YouTube | 23 While I'm 23

I'm still in shock about accomplishing this one! YouTube is something I'd been wanting to do since I was 16/17 but never had the guts to do it for one reason or another. Honestly, I half expected to still be putting it off at this point, so I'm thrilled to say I actually started posting videos last November and managed to publish as many as five videos by the end of 2018!

7 Days of Instagram | 23 While I'm 23

I am absolutely rubbish at posting to Instagram regularly. After the hell that was the 28 day PAD challenge, 7 days seemed a little easier, but I decided to sneak this one in, and not put too much pressure on myself to actually complete it. Normally I make a point of announcing when I'm going to do something, but for some reason I decided to just go ahead and do this one, without talking about it first. Clearly, it worked, and perhaps I should try it more often!

March Round Up

March hasn't exactly been the most fun month of 2019 but it's definitely been the most satisfying so far. I've been working hard towards my goals and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting my shit together!

Wicca by Harmony Nice

Wicca is something I discovered an interest in when I was around 17/18. Mum made a Wiccan friend, and he took the time to talk to me about Wicca, and even let me borrow some books! Six years later, I still have them.

10 Books of 100 | 23 While I'm 23

I'm ten* books in to my 100 books challenge - which is embarrassingly low as I'm four months in - and as I haven't done a What I Read for a while, I thought now was the perfect time for it! *now 11 books - but that's a whole other blog post! 

February Photo a Day Challenge | 23 While I'm 23

Meggan has been creating monthly photo a day challenges for quite a while now, and I have tried to join in a couple of times. I even created my own once! I loved the prompts for February's challenge and made it my main goal for the month.

Hello March

Finally, March is here and I can go back to my lovely caravan! As great as it has been being back 'home', I am dying to be back in my holiday home. I'm really looking forward to long walks by the canal and getting back in the swimming pool!

February Round Up

February absolutely flew by, I can't believe I'll be going back to Sheppey this weekend! Apart from being poorly, February has been lovely and I've been up to all sorts and seen lots of people. 

7 Days of Calm | 23 While I'm 23

I have a few 7 day long challenges on my 23 While I'm 23 list, including 7 days of meditating/Calm. I have tried meditation before but never really stuck to it fully. I really want to make it a real habit, hence the 7 Days of Calm challenge!

Hello February | An Update

Hello! Have you missed me? I have very much enjoyed my time away from blogging, and very seriously considered not coming back at all. Obviously I couldn't stay away completely, but I have decided to ease up on the blogging a bit. I got serious blogging burn out from posting so regularly in December, that I have decided to stop worrying so much about a schedule, and remember to treat blogging as a hobby, rather than a full time job. Especially as I haven't been feeling particularly inspired and only have one more post written up and ready after this one! 

So, what have I been up to this last month? Keep reading to find out...