CURRENTLY LOVING | JANUARY 2017

My blog is primarily about the outdoors, adventure, travel and my bucket list, but I do like to deviate slightly once a month for my regular currently loving post. More the type of post a ‘lifestyle blogger’ might write, I enjoy putting these ones together because they help me to stop and consider the things that are making me smile along with some more abstract entities that I’m liking. Here are ten of my favourite things right now – my currently loving for January 2017.

All the things!

Currently Loving: January 2017

01. Anyone who reads my blog (hopefully) knows that my mantra is life is all about the journey. It is the phrase I try to live by, making the most of each day, each step, rather than wishing my life away or rushing to get to my destination. My Dad even wrote me a poem all about it, which means it must be important! This hanging sign was a Christmas gift and I absolutely love it. I think it will look awesome in our bedroom so I see it when I get up each day. I’ve no idea where it came from, but it was a very thoughtful gift and I just had to include it here. I’d dearly love to create my own “life is all about the journey” range at some point in the future, I think that would be pretty cool.

02. I have horrible fickle skin, and even in my mid 30s I have not been able to shake the acne. I’ve recently started using (yet) another different skincare brand in the hope it might help, and I have to say, so far I’m impressed. I’ve been using the Tea Tree range by Body Shop for a short time, and while I still have spots, my skin feels great – one step in the right direction. I also like that the scrub uses natural and biodegradable ‘beads’, rather than plastic microbeads, which is very good.

03. Another life is all about the journey item, this time a wooden box that I got for my birthday. This also represents the new bedroom furniture we bought from Ikea a couple of months ago; we’ve swapped from (old and worn out) bedside drawer units to beside tables (or night stands for any Americans reading), and so this little box is now on display and is very handy to keep things neat and tidy. It goes very nicely with the heart shaped sign, I can definitely see a theme here.

04. There’s never a New Year when I don’t promise myself I will drink more water… I’m actually not that bad at keeping hydrated, but I can always use a little extra motivation. My new Klean Kanteen, the 27oz/800ml version to go with the 40oz/1182ml version I already have, should help this time around – my old SIGG bottle this size finally gave up the ghost recently and it was time for a new container. Having a bottle like this with me means I rarely need to resort to single use plastic, and encourages me to drink plenty when I’m out and about.

05. I’ve blogged about my eyes and sight a couple of times here on Splodz Blogz, but don’t mention it very often; my silly left eye is a part of me that does cause me a few issues and leads to strange looks from acquaintances on occasion. But right now, this month, my sight is actually one of my favourite things. Represented here by the glasses that help relax my eyes so my brain doesn’t have to work too hard to put the images my eyes provide it together in some sort of sensible manner, I was told just a few years ago that I would probably not see well enough to drive by the time I’m 40. But before Christmas it was confirmed that actually my eyes and brain are doing a pretty awesome job and, as it stands, the likelihood is my sight shouldn’t change much (other than those changes that happen with age) at all. Ever. And that is SO good. Currently loving? Yup – my eyes are pretty special.

06. My friends know me well, and when I opened this gift on Christmas morning a big smile naturally appeared. Pages with instructions such as “fill this page with circles” and “rub here with dirt” means that Wreck This Journal is the perfect stop-looking-at-the-screen relaxation aid for me. I’ve already completed “write one word over and over” and know I will enjoy filling in the rest of the pages. A brilliant gift.

07. Sometimes you are wise to wait… I mean, back in November my parents gave me an unexpected birthday gift of a voucher to treat myself to some new jewellery. When your birthday is in November and the shops are already playing the Christmas music, you know that you shouldn’t really be shopping with your vouchers just yet, and I dutifully waited until last week to see what I might be able to get. I have wanted a new chain for a very long time, I had one as a teenager that I wore all the time (and I mean ALL the time, I never took it off), until it broke, and I was so pleased when I went to H Samuel the other day and found this silver curb chain within my budget. Yay! I promise I will take this one off occasionally – like to take this photograph – but I fully expect it to be around my neck six days out of seven. Thanks Mum and Dad 🙂

08. I’ve had my heart set on a pair of super nice leather heeled boots for a long while, you know, for when I want to make an effort that doesn’t involve my patent Dr Martens (which are currently on sale…). I gave into temptation and bought these grey Michael Kors boots in the House of Fraser sale just after Christmas, and I absolutely love them. I completely out of practice when it comes to walking in heels, but I feel so good in these. I know, I know, but how could I resist?!

09. My currently loving post is proof that I do rather like things (especially shoes, beanie hats and gadgets), there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but as you know I live my life for experiences and find they are a much better use of my time than worrying about stuff. This entry in my currently loving is about bucket list ticks that come in envelopes or emails – experience vouchers. You can pretty much give an experience of anything nowadays, and I love that my family and friends choose to hunt out this kind of gift for me. Sat in my pile of envelopes pictured is a supercar driving experience, an axe throwing lesson, a ride on the longest zip line in the country, and a flying lesson in a proper flight simulator at a local aerodrome. Things, yes, but experiences more. Yes!

10. In some ways it feels like I have left adventure behind a little with the change of the year, now that I must say “last year” was the year we did Zartusacan. But this diary here (the Peanuts one by Moleskine, how cute!) is in my currently loving this month to represent making plans for new adventures this year and next. So far I’ve added a couple of camping weekends, a week-long 100-mile hike in the autumn with a couple of friends, a road trip along the North Coast 500 (in Scotland, look it up, it looks epic!), the BMW Motorrad offroad skills course in Wales (in preparation for something we want to do in 2018), and a few other bits and bobs. Yay for planning new adventures (and having a big pile of notebooks to do it in!).

I hope you enjoyed my currently loving list this month, a mixture of experiences and things that I think gives you a little insight into my life at the moment. I’d love to know what your favourite things are this month; drop me a comment below and tell me what you are currently loving.