30 Before 30 - Update 1

You may remember my original post here where i started my list ! That was about a year ago now & i thought i was due for an update. 


Here is my {updated} list of 30 things i want to do before I hit the big 3-0

1. Land a permanent job in my dream career

2. Fly somewhere business class  

3. Have an amazing wedding 

4. Visit Europe   

5. Buy an Investment Property

6. Get comfortable having my photo taken 

7. Plan a big, fun themed 30th Birthday Party 

8. Visit Disneyland 

9. Do a decent jump (i.e more than 10cm of air) on my snowboard 

10. Earn over $1,000 a week (nett)
11. Learn to feel comfortable & complete being who i am

12. Buy myself a really, really expensive handbag 

13. Donate blood 

14. Throw a Halloween Party
15. Live overseas  

16. Grow my hair to my waist 

17. Visit the local Farmers Markets regularly

18. Watch a Lakers game at the Staples Centre with M

19. Visit Thailand 

20. Indulge my blogging hobby at least once a week  

21. Organise a surprise trip for my parents 30th Wedding Anniversary 
22. Get to my goal weight and stay there
23. Try stand up paddle boarding
24. Attend a dawn service on ANZAC day 
25. Pay off my HECS debt 
26. Make a new friend 
27. Fall Pregnant 
28. Renovate our bathroom
29. Upgrade our house to one with a decent block 
30.

So there have been a few updates  
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3.  M & I got married on the 30/10/2015, it was a wedding & it was amazing ! Hence why item number 3 is now crossed off. 

6. Part & parcel of getting married or even being involved in a wedding is all the photos that get taken of you ! After being a bride & seeing the photos i realised i AM comfortable with having my photo taken, i've started to work out how to hold myself in photos & that candid shots are best ! 

28.  Just before our wedding, in September we had our bathroom renovated ! It looks SO much better. Would anyone like to see a post about it ? 

My list was initially inspired by the idea through Felicity with this blog post.  

You might have noticed how i left the last spot free ? I still haven't decided what i want there, i figured i'm only 27 so i have time to fill it in.  

Do you have a list like this ? I would LOVE to read something similar xx 

Lifestyle Goals - Update

Hello !!

So the past 12 days have been full on :)

I've tried to incorporate alot of healthy changes into my life, of all the goals i set myself, i've managed to fulfill 3 so far. See Below:

Goals

1,200 calories, each day

10,000 steps, each day

2L of water, each day

8 hours of sleep, each night

Establish a cleaning routine

Enjoy a healthy breakfast each morning

10,000 steps
This was an easy one ! All my family decided to buy Fit bit's last weekend, naturally we all started challenged each other & it turns out i'm kinda competitive (who knew) 

8 hours of sleep 
We're currently staying at M's dad's house in the country ! It's lovely and quiet, there is no internet & its pretty cold out there. We've found ourselves making a cuppa & heading to bead nice & early. Getting enough sleep is truly life changing ! 

Enjoy a healthy breakfast each morning  
As we're not in our usual home, we've mixed up our routine a little. I have a cup of coffee as i get ready in the morning & then make breakfast at work. It's not something i'd like to do forever (work kitchens are kinda gross, am i right ?) but it's working nicely for right now. My breakfast of choice is currently Wholegrain Toast with Vegemite & Avocado ! 

 

1,200 calories, each day  
I've only given this a half strike as i haven't been using MyFitnessPal as much as i would have liked, i haven't necessarily eaten more than 1,200 as i feel myself getting hungry throughout the day ! I definitely am going to try and be more diligent about tracking food from here on out though. It's all about good habits ! 

2L of water, each day   
Wah ! I really wanted to nail this goal, sadly i left my straw drink bottle at home & it set me up for failure :( tomorrow is a new day though ! 

Establish a cleaning routine   
We're not at home so this really wasn't going to happen. 

All in all i've done ok, i think all the extra sleep i'll get from this long weekend will really set me up for a brilliant week next week 

Also, how good is Kale ! It's one thing i've really started enjoying as i try it wil different cooking combo's

Hope you all have a brilliant long weekend ! 
I'm attempting bone broth
Wish me luck :) 

Big Love Lauren 

Lifestyle Goals

How do you feel at the moment?

If I was asked the same questions, my answer wouldn’t necessarily be positive.

Recently, life has been great but also crazy busy. A new job, a second job, working overtime, planning a wedding, planning a honeymoon, renovating a bathroom, managing a rental property & trying to maintain some social interaction, have me spent!

I’m slowly settling into a comfortable routine, but most days the last thing I’m thinking of is meal planning, cleaning the house or prep for the week ahead, which leads me into a vicious cycle. When I feel set back from stressing, rushing around, or when I haven’t had the chance to rejuvenate before the working week begins, I head straight towards the comforting embrace of junk food ! This feels great, for the time that I’m eating it, but leads me right back to the feeling of stress & being back at square one, hence beginning the very cycle that I’m aiming to break.

So I decided to set some goals & change the direction I want my life to go.

As I type, my ‘one size too small for added motivation’ wedding dress is calmly enroute over the pacific to arrive as an uncomfortable reminder of my recent weight gain within a matter of hours! I love the dress. I picked it on purpose & I want to do it justice. Without effort, it will fit, but not in the best way it can. It’s my motivation to control my cravings and focus on the good habits I know I can maintain.

Weight loss & fitness are not the only goals I have, I want to enjoy life and entertain more ! On June the 1^st our bathroom renovations are beginning. By the time they’re finished (2 weeks or so) I want to be well and truly into a cleaning routine that leaves me able to accept last-minute guests happily & with excitement rather than with shock & embarrassment! I would love to spend less time willing my house clean & more time enjoying it in all the tidy glory it will become!

All up I have 6 goals to work towards consecutively over the 5 weeks.

Goals

1,200 calories, each day

10,000 steps, each day

2L of water, each day

8 hours of sleep, each night

Establish a cleaning routine

Enjoy a healthy breakfast each morning

Over the weekend I’ll be doing the leg work to prepare everything & Monday it will begin! Going right through to June 30, which is significant as it will bring us to the 4 month mark in the lead up to our wedding.

I’m planning to do a weekly update with photos of what i eat each day to keep me accountable ! It should go go up on Monday at the beginning of every new week 

Wish me (& my will power) luck…

Recent Happenings

Reading:  

Event Briefs ! Am loving my new job, but as the newby it involves alot of scoping out how things are done & gaining an insight into the business model.

Watching: 
Orange is the new Black (OITNB) !! I LOVE this show. We've had Netflix since November & have only recently put this on. The best bit ? Season 3 is due out on June 12th & the whole season comes out in one go ! Perfect for binge watchers like myself :) Game of Thrones and Modern Family also get a look in when we take a rare break from Litchfield. 

Listening to:  
'Water for Elephants', the audiobook. (It's baffling how quickly a car trip can go when you're entranced by a book) Ed Sheeran & Teddy Geiger have been making appearances too. 

Smelling: 

'Si' by Giorgio Armani. I don't own it (yet) but one of the girls at work wears in daily & it smells incredible. Hand cream is also very prevalent at this time of year & i'm yet to smell one of those i don't like ! 

Jelly & Nugget at our Engagement Shoot.

Thinking about: 
Our wedding ! I'm getting SO excited now (we are less than 6 months away). Renovating our bathroom, all the new things we need to choose. Wondering if it would make for an interesting blog post ?

Wishing:  
That the year would slow down a tad ! It feels like it should still be February.  

Working on:  
Organising 'Crafternoon' for next Friday. We have our 'Save the Dates' to construct (hence the engagement shoot) & i'm hoping to reel all my siblings in with the promise of Mexican food and an NBA game. 

Loving:  

My new job. All the exciting lifestyle changes i have in mind & the thought that in a few weeks i should be happy(ier) in my skin. Nights in with my baby dogs & M. 

Anticipating: 
Dinner with my family tonight. Games night tomorrow night. Getting a new phone next week, Lunch with a lovely friend next weekend and smashing out the bathroom vanity / sink.

How has life been treating you lately ? 

What have i been up too...

So i haven't blogged for 4 months ! 

That is a rather long time. I'm scrolling, in my head, through all the things that have been going on in those 4 months & i can't comprehend that time period passing ! It's crazy how fast this year is progressing. 

Actually, i'm getting married in less than 6 months ! 

Since i've been absent, the main milestones have been: 

- M's brother got married 

- I got a new job in events 

- I discovered Netflix & 'Orange is the New Black. Obsessed ! 

- I started planning our Honeymoon to the West Coast of the USA 

- I attended my first dawn service 

- We had our engagement photo's done

- We saw Ed Sheeran

- I completed an InDesign course & began a Photoshop course 

- I threw my sister in law a kitchen tea 

- I've been working a second job doing catering, to help me with event experience 

I know i say this every time but i'm really keen to start blogging again ! 

I've felt a hollow lately, i often think of my blog & feel sad about it's state of neglect ! With my recent design course it’s sparked my interest in creating a beautiful digital space !

So this is my goal ! For now i will work on restarting my blogging, slowly but surely

Can’t wait to once again connect with you all

Xx Lauren

Frugal Friday: DIY bread

Well hello there !

Now i'm not sure if a similar phenomenon occurred to you guys as it did to me on New Years Day, but i woke up feeling ultra frugal hahaha

It's so weird,  i mean we have our wedding coming up in 10 months but we've been saving really hard for the most part of last year, so i'm not overly worried about that ! I can't really pinpoint what has gone on in the realm of my subconscious to bring about this air of frugality ! I wouldn't say i feel stingy, because believe me i LOVE spending money, especially on expensive albeit, long lasting things (i.e. good pots & pans, decent furniture, heirloom accessories). But i definitely feel frugal & that is what it is. With my new financial outlook in tow i found myself browsing google for modern day 'frugal tips'.

I stumbled upon Popsugar.com in my searches & these 66 tips for a frugal life really rang true with me. Well most of them anyway, as much as i like saving money i'm not about to stop using beauty products, repurpose my hand-me-downs into underwear or give up having a car. 

So after scanning through the popsugar.com tips i was in search for a super simple bread recipe, enter thesimpledollar.com. Their bread recipe is fantastically easy & simple. They also have alot of info on money, like where to place investments ect. (which is not really my scene) but the articles are well written so if you're that way inclined, or you just like bread, check them out.

This loaf cost me (about) $1 to make, whilst i could get it cheaper at Coles or Woolies, a comparable loaf from Bakers Delight would be around $4 ! Also the scent of freshly baked bread in unbeatable ! 

Onto the carbo-hydrates ! 

This is what i made 

It was (is) so delish ! 

Here it is fresh with butter & vegemite. Oh yum ! 

Right after i kneaded it it looked like this 

Nek Minnit (ok an hour later) it looked like this 

Then in the pan before it rose up ready for baking ! 

  

Et Voila ! The finished product

Oh my, i love carbs 

Super simple & super satisfying.

I can definitely see myself making this on a Sunday night from the week ahead or even on a Friday night ready for an indulgent weekend breakfast 

Yummo ! 

Next Friday i'll have another 'Frugal' tip, in the meantime do you have any money-saving hacks you swear by ?