Autumn Bucket List

Hi all! November is over... DECEMBER TIME is here! If you've been paying attention, as a part of the #Blogtober14 Challenge one of the prompts was to write a Fall Bucket List. I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back and see what I have achieved from it just before we slip into the winter months...

The Original List

1. First and foremost, complete my first blog challenge - #BLOGTOBER14

2. Fit some running into my weekly routine, and stick with it!

3. Eat better

4. Post minimum of 2 book reviews

5. Try a recipe from my Clean Eating book

6. Look after my skin throughout autumn

7. Try some de-stress techniques each day

8. Start going to Zumba

9. Start looking for and planning gifts for Christmas (only 80 days away!)

Here's how I did:

1: CHECK. Big fat check on this - as evidenced in my October posts! 

2: I think I've done okay on this, I'm part of a running group and I try to make sure I get to the sessions every week...

3: Hmmmm this can still be improved, but I have been eating better than I did through the summer.

4: FAIL. I didn't get around to doing this, November just flew by me and I didn't post anything I had planned #sadface

5: FAIL. I haven't done this, I still want to though! Perhaps when I'm off work over Christmas... 

6: I haven't paid any attention to this one, so another FAIL.

7: FAIL, again. I think about doing it quite often, but have never actually implemented anything.

8: FAIL. However, I'm not sure this one is entirely my fault. When I wanted to go, it got cancelled, then when I couldn't go, it was on. Just bad timing all around I think!

9: CHECK. I've been thinking about Christmas a lot recently, and have got a few gifts together for it...Still a long ways to go though!

Overall, I achieved 4 / 9 on my bucket list. Overall, not too bad - could have been worse! 

I hope November went well for everyone, and lets look forward to a good December!

Holy Cahonies, An Award This Way Comes

I know this is super late, and that I haven't posted in almost a whole month...I'm sorry! I'm on the case...

Charlotte from A Love Triangle nominated me for a Liebster Award! Thank you Miss Charlotte. Yazoo! Happiness!
John from Shout John ALSO nominated me! Which shat all over my plan to nominate him... Thank you John - I'm looking forward to answering your questions!

Rules:

- Link back to the blog who nominated you.
- Answer all of their questions.
- Write 11 facts about yourself.
- Link 11 blogs with less than 200 followers and tell them you've nominated them.
- Ask 11 facts for the blogs you nominate to answer.

First things first, Charlotte's Questions:

1. What time is it right now?

22:07 pm. Past my bedtime if I want to act like a functioning human being in the morning...

2. Would you rather be a fish or a bird?

A Bird. Flying FTW. Plus fish smell bad.

3. What kind of genre of book is your favourite?

Ooohh, good question. This requires some thought.

I can't decide on just one, so I'm going to list what I tend to read most often, in no particular order:

Fantasy

Erotic Romance

Historical Fiction

Young Adult

Paranormal Romance

Paranormal Suspense

Contemporary Romance

4. When lightening strikes the sea, why don't all the fish die?

I have NO idea. 

I dislike not knowing things, so I googled - the fish in the area of the lightening strike do get fried, but because the ocean is so big the electricity disperses, and therefore has a lesser effect the further out it goes.

5. What is to the right of you, right now?

My handbag, a Harry Potter DVD box set, my sister singing karaoke.

6. Why is your blog called what It's called?

Boopy or Boops became a nickname given to me by my bestie. This caught on, and Andrew and Sisterbell both started calling me it too - as well as Maxx (Pips other half). It seemed like a good name for the blog, and gave me an idea for a logo (which I am yet to create!).

7. What goes on-top your Christmas tree?

Personally, I like stars to be on top of the Christmas tree. When I was younger we always has an angel, it was a very nice angel and I liked it a lot. I just prefer stars I think!

8. What did you leave out for Father Christmas when you were younger?

It varied from year to year, I think when I was small it was milk and cookies, and I got older it was milk and mince pies, or cookies. Of course, there were always carrots for the reindeer. 

9. Which came first the chicken or the egg?

It's a never ending cycle of evolution, and therefore impossible for me to say.

10. What is the last film/movie you saw?

I saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 in the cinema (twice) over the weekend...

11. Your favourite Disney film is....?

This is very difficult to pin down. there are SO many that I love! Right now, Hook is foremost in my mind! I think I will always love that film - especially the imaginary food scenes.

Great questions from Charlotte! Thank you for those. 

John's Questions:
1. My blog is a mixture of everything. But if you had to choose one topic for your blog forever - what would it be?
The topic for me to blog about forever...my life. ;) a bit of a cheat answer, but it works, right??

2. What was the last lie you told?
I think the last one I told waas...'Yes I've had dinner' (yesterday) when actually I had had a huuuge lunch and wasn't hungry. But then I ended up eating a small dinner anyway sooo....
 
3. What question do you hate to answer?
'Name your favourite book/film/TV Series' It's impossible for me to decide on just one favourite...

4. Which of the four seasons do you love?
hmmmm....I think I love fall more that the others. Halloween, foreworks night, the run up to Christmas, the colours of the trees...blahblahblah.

5. What cheers you up?
A big bar of chocolate, snuggles and a good book.

6. Where is your quiet place? (where you go to think or be alone)
My head. I get lost in my head sometimes! Or I'll go for a walk and sit in the park (usually on my lunch break from work) and just have time to myself.

7. What do you value most in a relationship?
Trust

8. What is the most played song you listen to?
ummm....No idea. Maybe Feeling Good by Muse? Could be any song from several musicals...

9. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
25. 25 just seems like a good age - 2 years and 2 months to go until I turn 25, so no pressure on working out the whole immortality thing...

10. At what age would you say - 'you grew up'?
I think it came along gradually, and I'm not enturely sure I'm 'grown up' now. Being the eldest out of 3 children automatically makes you the more responsible one, so I've always had that aspect of maturity becuase of that.

11. Do you think 'everything happens for a reason'?
I'm not sold on this. Sometimes it seems true, and it's good to believe in it. But at other times it's really hard to see where the reason in something is.


Nominations!:
1: Pip from RoanRider
2: Madi from And So I Did
3: I'm Done Being the Fat Girl
4: Daisy from Jetsettin Daisy
5: Jenn from Going the Distance
6: Rosa from Meekys World
7: Miss Freckles Blog
8: Somdyuti from One Tiny Wish
9: Purple Lips and Perfect Smiles
10: Emily from The Cozy Corner
11: Katie from The Hungry Goat

My Questions:

1. If you could live in any book universe, where would you choose?

2. What is the oddest term of endearment you have used for someone, or someone has used for you?

3. Snap Question: Zombie apocalypse! First weapon that comes to mind?

4. If you were a vegetable, what would you be and why?

5. Do you have any tips / tricks to posting regularly?

6. What is your family's most important Christmas tradition? (Or holiday tradition if you don't celebrate Christmas)

7. Do you have an outfit/item of clothing that you have owned for a long time, but never/rarely wear? if yes, what is it?

8. State a favourite character. Now explain what underwear you think they would wear?

9. If you could add 1 hour to your day, what would you do with it?
10. What do you want to achieve by the end of 2014?
11. If you could be any Harry Potter character, who would you be?



11 Facts About Me:

• I love cheese, and am really looking forward to having cheese and crackers at Chrsitmas. It's just not Christmas without them!
• I will always prefer to read the book before seeing the film/TV series. I find that it just enhances the experience for me because I know all of the backstory.
• I love the colour purple. I also really enjoy lime green
•  A perfect night out for me would incorporate good food, good people, and theatre. A dinner and a show kind of affair.
• I am part Irish, and part Cornish (Cornwall - a county in Englad that often count themselves sepereately!)
• I once played Frenchy in a school production of Grease - I had 7 wigs for the performance.
• I have a bit of an addiction to biscuits. I very easily eat a whole packet of them. No joke.
• Right this second I am sat in the living room with a glass of white wine, Big Bang Theory on the TV and wishing I had a whole pack of biscuits...
• I own a Samsung Galaxy S4, which I love and will be sticking with the Samsung Galaxy when it comes to upgrading next year...
• I've been with my boyfriend for almost 6 years (6 years in Feb)
• Kiwi makes me sick

Voila. 11 facts...

Thanks again to John and Charlotte for nominating me! I look forward to reading more of these! 

Writing Process Tag

Writing process? What even IS that?

I kid. Mostly.

A lot of my posts are very spontaneous, and a lot also come into being while I'm out and about. This can lead to sporadic rambling posts, and short, swift ones. This makes explaining my process-in depth-quite difficult, so I'm going to nab the questions that Somdyuti from One Tiny Wish answered for her post (in which I was tagged - thank you for thinking of me!).

What am I Working On?

Not very much outside of this blog and my health and fitness blog to be honest. Unless emails count! I've been enjoying writing on here and over on bekbek19.wordpress.com, and recently I have been thinking about writing more. This has lead me to jot down a couple of ideas and whatnot when inspiration strikes, but nothing has come of those yet. Who knows what could develop in future...

How Does My Work Differ From Others of its Genre?

Well, first and foremost it is a blog about my lifestyle, thoughts and opinions. These are all quite individual to me, so are not likely to be echoed in quite the same way. Despite there being tons of lifestyle bloggers around, everyone still has very different opinions and writing styles.

Why Do I Write?

Because I enjoy it. 

I like doing it, it has become a hobby to post on here. In a way it takes courage to put yourself out there and post online, and I like thinking that maybe I can reach out to someone through writing. Both are good feelings. It's also enjoyable when people interact with me because of what I have said, or the opinions I have. I find it cathartic to word vomit onto a page whatever is going through my mind at the time. It is quite cleansing!

How Does My Writing Process Work?

Slapdash something together and hope for the best! No, I do plan things as well. 

I have a list of blog ideas, which I regularly jot things down on to look at on a later date. I look through these regularly, and will draft up a post or two that I feel inspiration for or wish to develop further.

Then I write what comes to mind, often with little asides and comments from myself - usually I leave these in as italicised comments, but not always.

Once I  have something, I think about an image for it - this will depend on what the post is about, and where I am writing it. If I am writing it on my phone on the move (commuting or otherwise away form my laptop) I am less likely to use images because I'm lazy...

All of my posts are very organic, and don't require much planning. Maybe that shows in the rambling quality of my posts? I 've no idea. I don't spend hours editing posts (unless there's a lot of images to dig out e.g. Hair Chronicles) though I will absolutely, always, without a doubt, check for spelling mistakes, grammar misuse and parts that just don't make reading sense. I'm not saying I'm perfect on this front, but I do try to make sure my posts are readable.

Upon completion of all of this, I then think of a few labels and go ahead with posting. Then you - readers - come along and devour and judge my words, flittering back off into the blogosphere when you are finished. Enjoy!

Bloggers, I choose you!

Cozy Corner With Emily

A Love Triangle

Shout John

Congratulations. Grab the questions and get writing...

I look forward to reading your posts!

P.S. I have tomorrow off work and now I feel EPIC. Enjoy your fridays!

Halloween Costume Reveal

After the success of Blogtober, the last part of it was a Halloween costume reveal. I wasn't able to do this until today because I didn't dress up yesterday.

Myself and 3 companions (we call ourselves the fantastic 4) are going to Alton Towers - a massive theme park - in our Halloween gear.

LOVE rollercoasters, I'm so excited!

Happy Halloween everyone!