Twenty Five Before Twenty Five.

Okay, so it's Friday and this post should be a Five Things I Love Friday but it's not because honestly, I've had one of those weeks where I haven't found much to love and I don't want to try and make up a bunch of stuff because that wouldn't be very real. I'll try harder for next week, things are looking up!

Instead I thought I'd pop up my list of twenty five things I'd like to do or achieve before I'm twenty five years old. I was going to do a thirty before thirty list but we'd be waiting around a pretty long time to see if I actually achieved them. This May I'll be turning twenty three years old so I have a little over two years to see how many things I manage to achieve!

One. Set up a rainy day savings account and regularly pay into it. 

Even if I can only manage to pay in a small amount each month, it's better than nothing and you never know when you'll need a few spare pennies in life!

Two. Move in with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend is very fortunate to own his own home and I realise how lucky we are to be in a position where we won't have to rent. There's absolutely nothing wrong with renting, I know it suits so many people perfectly, but it's just not for us. His house was a pretty big renovation project and at every step of the way he's asked my opinion on things which is really lovely because one day this is going to a home for the two of us.

Three. Fully set up my online jewellery and photography stores. 

Sailboat, Ahoy is my little online handmade jewellery store and in the coming months I hope to turn it into something really quite wonderful. I'm not someone that's been arty or crafty all my life but I'm certainly enjoying learning as I go along and making new pieces to put into the shop. My next aim is to set up a little online photography based store selling prints, note cards and greetings cards. I'd really love to make these little shops into something special. Fingers crossed that I can!

Four. Get married. 

I never thought I'd get married. At school all of my friends had boyfriends and I never really did, I was kind of the chubby kid with unflattering glasses that no boy ever looked at apart from to have a bit of a laugh at. For the most part I was okay with it, having a boyfriend wasn't such a big deal to me. Over the years there were a few boys I went on dates with but no one was really very special until I met Mark. You know when things just feel right? I remember telling my mama that I had just met the man I was going to marry.

Five. Adopt a dog. 

From when I was a baby my family have always had a dog and that's something I'd like to continue. Ideally I'd love to adopt a dog from a rescue centre although I know they have strict rules and I'm not sure if our small garden will be large enough. I hope it will be though because I'd love to give a dog that's had a hard time a really lovely home.

Six. Welcome our first baby.

I never thought I'd be in a position where I was saying that I'd like a baby. This is another one of those things that comes with meeting the right person. I'm not quite ready just yet and it's just not quite the right time at the moment. With something as big as this I want everything else to be as perfect as it can be, I'd like to be married, in the position where I can be a stay at home mum and just able to give everything I possibly can to another life. I'm also excited to see what our future child will look like, my boyfriend is half Filipino and I'm as white as can be. Boy or girl I don't mind, I just know it's going to be such an exciting time in our lives.

Seven. Lose around 14lbs and keep it off. 

This may be slightly too ambitious, I'd be very happy with just losing 10lbs and I think I'd feel much better for it. I mean I'm okay with how I look right now but I know I'm not as healthy as I could be and that's the aspect that bothers me.

Eight. Finish my degree. 

I'm currently studying English Language and Literature with the Open University and I'm not sure if I'll end up doing anything with my degree in terms of employment - I'm twenty two and I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up! I think a degree is always a wonderful thing to have, even if it's just something that helps you grow personally and not professionally.

Nine. Keep blogging. 

Blogging is probably one of the few things I've ever stuck at for a long period of time and it's one of my proudest achievements. Right now I can't imagine not logging on to blogger and typing up a post so I hope I don't give it up for a long time to come & I hope you all stick with me!

Ten. Find a job I really quite like. 

It's no secret I'm not the biggest fan of my current job, I essentially work on the tills in a shop and I'm super shy so it's pretty much my worst nightmare having to talk to strangers constantly. I can't lie, it has been good for me to push myself but a quiet office job would suit me down to the ground!

Eleven. Make a homemade lasagne completely from scratch. 

This is a bit of a silly one I suppose but lasagne is one of my absolute favourite foods but for some reason I've never made one from scratch by myself before!

Twelve. Learn to drive. 

This is something I've been saying since I turned 17 and I've still not got around to learning. I'm a little bit scared I suppose but it's mostly the cost of lessons and then the cost of running a car. Admittedly it would be handy to know how to drive and I wouldn't need to get my own car after. We'll see with this one!

Thirteen. Watch the sun set and the stars come out in the middle of the country. 

Living in a large light polluted town most of my life doesn't lend itself to seeing stars as clearly as I could from right in the middle of the countryside so this is something I'd love to do this summer!

Fourteen. Go on a real holiday with my boy. 

I haven't been on a plane since I was thirteen and honestly I'm not overly keen to get back on one. I've watched far to many movies and documentaries featuring plane crashes than is normal and it's safe to say I've been thoroughly put off. My boyfriend on the other hand is plane obsessed and I know he'd love for us to go on a 'proper' abroad holiday. I've promised him we'll go somewhere nice for our honeymoon, so all he needs to do is marry me. I think that's a fair deal!

Fifteen. Purchase and keep a One Line A Day: Five Year Memory Book. 

Keeping a diary and documenting my inner most thoughts has never been my thing, I would always start one on January 1st and from then on I'd just forget. This sweet little book just looks perfect and finding one sentence to summarise your day could be a pretty interesting challenge!

Sixteen. Take on a project 365: take one photograph every day for a year. 

This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but I'm always afraid this will be another thing I'll just end up giving up on. I think I'm going to try and rope my boyfriend in on this one and we'll do a joint 365 project starting on the first day I officially move into his house.

Seventeen. Regularly print out our photographs and organise them into albums or scrapbooks. 

The digital age has seen most of my photographs staying firmly put on my computer or saved on various external hard drives which to me seems like such a shame! It's my goal to have a bookcase full of photo albums that I can look back on when I'm older. Memories like that are just priceless.

Eighteen. Give blood. 

This is one of those things I've been meaning to do for a long time and I'm sure a lot of people feel the same. Blood donations are so important, you never know when you may need to receive blood yourself and this is one goal I'm determined to achieve - hopefully more than once!

Nineteen. Stop biting my nails. 

This was something I managed last year but getting a job that doesn't allow me to wear nail polish soon had me biting them again. No nail polish means my nails break so easily which is rubbish but biting them is such a horrible habit and I need to stop!

Twenty. Have a picnic in the countryside in the summer time.

I've got this vision of sitting in a cute field surrounded by flowers and getting homemade sandwiches and cupcakes out of my new picnic basket while sitting on a cute gingham picnic blanket. In reality my picnic blanket will probably get blown away, the sandwiches will be stolen by ants and I'll be chased by a bee. But it'll be fun and that's all that matters!

Twenty One. Make sure date night happens at least once a month. 

Since moving closer to my boyfriend we seem to have almost stopped going on proper dates which I really miss. I think going to the cinema or out for dinner once a month is achievable and I also think it'll be a lovely thing to do together.

Twenty Two. Make vegetarian maki at home more often. 

Yo! Sushi is the restaurant that first introduced me to the world of sushi and maki is probably one of the easiest things to make but it's also super yummy. We've made it at home a couple of times before but it would be nice to have it more often!

Twenty Three. Find a good quality black eyeliner that actually lasts on my eyes without smudging. 

I touched upon this in my last post and although it's quite a trivial goal to have, it's something that's been bugging me for ages. I really love the winged eyeliner look so I'm really hoping I can find a liner that won't smudge on me.

Twenty Four. Plan my meals better and incorporate more healthy foods. 

Lately I've found myself filling up on unhealthy snacks and then when it comes to meal times, I never really want anything. I'm aiming to have 5 portions of fruit & vegetables every single day and to start eating breakfast!

Twenty Five. Comment on every single blog post I read. 

This is one that sounds simple but I think it's going to be one of the goals I find the most challenging. When I'm on my iPad it won't let me comment on blogs that have the disqus commenting system which is super annoying and it's not often that I browse blogs on my laptop anymore but getting better at leaving comments is something I really need to improve on!

Have you made a similar list of things you'd like to achieve? I'd love if you would let me know in the comments or link me if you have a blog post!

xoxo

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