Hello and welcome to m February Bullet Journal post!

If you didn't see my last post for January, then check it out here.

So for this month, I'm just going to run through what my spreads looked like, and also any additions I have made for the beginning of March!

So this week was the week that I realised keeping up with how many hours sleep I'd had and what I'd eaten was getting a bit difficult. I also thought that my notes section was getting a bit useless because I could just write it in the day sections...

... so I scrapped the sleep/meal tracker all together, and replaced the notes section with a quote section, where I will write a quote that is relevant to that week.

So as you can see here, I worked a lot alongside uni so I put in a quote about being tired.

I wanted to switch up my weekly thoughts page and have some kind of structure, but for this week I was too busy to keep up with that idea!

This is the spread for this current week, I'm happy with everything in it, and I have marked it with a pink tab to show it is a new month! How is it March already?

Here is a better idea of my thoughts page, I blurred it out because it's personal haha. But I'm writing the day, and a quick overview of the day and my feelings.

So because it is March, I have done another monthly overview, and it's my birthday this month!!! I turn 21!

On the next page, I have a 3 Day Rule page. This means that is I see something I like, I will write it in here with the date, and then 3 days later I will come back to it and if I still want it, I'll buy it, if not then I won't. I'll put a tick or a cross as to whether I bought it or not.

I haven't done a spending spread because I didn't us it in February AT ALL, kinda annoyed that I wasted a page haha!

My final 2 pages so far look like this. On the left I have chores for the month, so things I want to get tidies up in my room! And on the right I have a self care tracker for the month. While I have the weekly tracker of things I want to do, these are the things I feel I should do in order to look after myself. Rather thsn have a green/red system like my weekly tracker, I am just going to mark the box if I've done it, or leave it blank if I haven't.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I really like doing these and hopefully I'll stay on track and have one monthly for you!

See you Monday!

Layla x

Hi!

Today I am bringing you a really simple, but effective, DIY.

You'll need an old bottle (I really liked the shape of this one, and it has a proper cork in the top)

A string of fairy lights, battery powered would be more ideal. I got these from Primark last year, but they always have some in.

And you'll also need batteries if they are battery powered.

Start feeding the lights into the top of the bottle. Because these ones are copper wired, it was easier for me to bend and shape them as they stayed in place. However, I reckon a fuller string of fairy lights would look pretty cool too.

Switch the lights on and voila! I know this is so super easy, but I think it's a great idea and adds a very simple but different look to just regular fairy lights.

I keep mine on my cabinet alongside some other things and I think it looks really cute!

Thanks for reading!

Layla x

Hey there!

Last week, my boyfriend and I took a trip to Thorpe Park. We went last Tuesday, which as you may know if you're British, it was the hottest day of the year! And it showed.

We left really early, and I was perfectly fine in shorts, a tank and a very thin cardigan.

And it only got hotter.

When we first arrived, we were warned that it was going to be very busy because of the weather, but we'd driven the whole way there so it would have been a waste. We also had a two for one ticket, which made it a bit cheaper, but it also cost £6 for parking.

The first ride we went on was Colossus. And boy was I scared. I am one of those people who is petrified when I first get on a roller-coaster, and then once I get off I wanna go on again.

Colossus was pretty fast, it had a loop and a barrel roll at the end. It was definitely a loopy ride, but it wasn't very fast... well it was, but it seemed to take a while to get round. It's hard to explain.

Then we queued up for nemesis Inferno. Only I ended up getting heatstroke and had to leave the queue. I told my boyfriend to carry on waiting, as we'd waited for ages and I didn't want him to miss out. I went and sat in the shade and had some water and all was fine.

After we'd eaten, the queues had gotten HUGE. I'm talking an hour's wait time or more. And barely any queue had shade, which might have resulted in another heatstroke incident. We ended up going on the Rapids as they had a pretty short wait time, considering that there was lots of rings and you could fit in 8 people at a time.

Then we decided that it was getting pretty ridiculous, so we bought a fast track ticket for £6 each to go on Nemesis Inferno, as I was gutted I'd missed out.

Nemesis is a very cool ride. The track is on the outside of the car, so you're kinda hanging off in the seat? Very bad, and somewhat terrifying explanation, I know. But it means you don't really feel any of the drops or twists or turns, I didn't even scream once. If you've been to Alton Towers, I'd describe it as similar to Air.

Then we decided to check out Saw as Matt wanted to go on it (not for me). But the wait time was probably the longest, which was a huuuuge queue. So after that, we decided to leave and go to the hotel.

We stayed at a Premier Inn just 20 minutes from the park. We were so tired, we ended up napping for two hours as it had been a long day.

It was a very nice hotel, and they also cooked me vegetarian sausages in the morning which was super cool! 

Overall, I enjoyed Thorpe Park, the few rides we managed to get on. If we go again, we'll probably go on a drizzly day in term time so we don't end up getting caught up in a load of kids!

Thanks for reading!

Layla x

Hello!

Today I wanted to talk about becoming vegetarian, and share a few things about what I've been eating since I made the change.
Before I start, I want to point out that I am in no way saying that you MUST become vegetarian/vegan, nor am I condemning meat eaters, I ate meat for 20 years so I can't really say anything. I just want to talk about why I made the switch and my personal choice.

So, about 4 months ago now, I was eating a piece of steak, and halfway through my meal I began to feel sick. Not in a food poisoning type of way, but in a "I am eating a dead animal" kind of way. This wasn't the first time it had happened, but on that particular occasion, it really did affect me. I was just chewing and chewing and it was vile, I didn't want to swallow any of the steak. And then that was when I realised that it just wasn't for me. I felt disgusted that I was eating animals, and I didn't know how up until that point I had differentiated from eating a cow but not eating my pet dogs. They're all animals who can see, feel, live.

So that night, I sat down with my grandparents and told them my decision, and they fully supported it. A few of my friends did have a giggle, but I can't blame them. I ate meat for two meals a day, everyday, and I was going to go cold turkey (But not literally, Haha. No?).

It was actually a lot easier to make the change than I thought it would be. At first, it was hit and miss. I'm not really a huge fan of vegetables, which I get is my main food source as a veggie. But when they're combined, such as in vegetable lasagna, I don't mind them so much. But as the months have gone on, I have discovered more and more things that I like to eat!

Some of my favourite things are cheesy pasta, Linda McCartney sausages and sausage rolls (really, the sausage rolls are such a great snack!), vegetable lasagna, Quorn beef curry, Quorn beed chilli and eggs with waffles. A few other things I like to have as snacks are cheese toasties, super noodles (the bacon ones are veggie, guys!) I also love these fries that you can get from Makro, seriously good. Then there are also the typical, carrots, grapes, apples, bananas etc, but I thought that would be pretty obvious!

A lot more things are vegetarian than you would expect, for instance, beef and tomato pot noodles haha. But there are other things that aren't vegetarian that surprised me, such as Moams and Milky Bar Yoghurts.

At the moment, I'm still in a learning curve. I'm discovering what is veggie, what isn't, what I do and don't like. But every single day I'm getting a step further away from eating meat. Like I said before, this isn't a post to make you feel guilty if you do eat meat, it's a post to just share my journey, and the happy life change I have made.

Thanks for reading,

Layla x

Hello!

Last week, my boyfriend and I went to the National Motorcycle Museum, and I thought I would just share with you a few photos I took :)

Entry is £8.95 and you can find the website here: http://www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk/

Thanks for reading!

Layla x

Hello!!

Today I thought I would do the tattoo tag. I don't have that many tattoos compared to some people, but I love all the ones I do have and so I thought I would do this tag!

Questions:

1. How many tattoos do you have?

I have a total of 5 tattoos, but one is unfinished.

2. What is your favourite tattoo that you have?

My back tattoo! It's the first tattoo that I have had where I was like "Wow, I actually have a tattoo". Which was ridiculous because I already had 3 others at that point. But I guess it was because it was my first big tattoo.

3. How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

18. I wasn't enough of a rebel to get an underage one, and I wanted to make sure I went to a decent place! i believe that if somewhere is going to do underage tattoos, then they're not a respectful or responsible artist.

4. What do your parents think about your tattoos?

My dad doesn't seem to mind them, but he has tattoos too. My mum hates them though. I don't think my grandparents mind them, but they'd definitely rather that I didn't have them.

5. Does your boyfriend like your tattoos, if so what's his favourite?

He does yes, seeing as he has them too. I don't know which is his favourite, but I know I would still have them if he didn't like them.

6. Did you always have a love for tattoos and what was your inspiration?

I don't really know when I started to love tattoos. My mum brought me up with the idea that tattoos were a very bad thing and that I should never get any. But as I grew older and my friends had them and I saw new ideas around and about, I realised that I wanted them too. I love the idea that I get to wear someone's art for the rest of my life, and the permanence of them will always remind me of that point of my life where I got the tattoo. Does that make sense?

7. Do you plan on getting more tattoos in the future?

I'm not going to say no. But I want my hip finished next. I'd quite like a unicorn somewhere, because unicorns. We shall see.

8. Which tattoo would you say was the most painful?

My back, by far. Well, when it went onto the spine, that was an awful stabbing pain.

9. Do you regret any of your tattoo's and why?

No. I barely even remember that they're there, which to me is a good thing because they're a part of me and my body.

10. What was your least painful tattoo?

My ankle. I barely felt it, it was actually kinda strange.

11. Who would you like to tag?

Er, anyone?

My tattoos in the order I got them and their meanings:

This was my first tattoo that I got about a month after my 18th birthday and it's on my wrist. I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, it's my all time favourite fairy tale. The meaning of this is very personal, but the main reasoning behind it is that everyone is a little mad in their own way.

My second tattoo is my hip. I still need this finished, I don't know why I haven't, I guess I'm just impatient. This is because I am a Pisces, and I wanted something to represent this. But I didn't want the usual kind of zodiac tattoo. I really like the darker twist on this with the skeletons, and I feel that this tattoo is very me. I need another head on one of my fishies and then it will be complete. I don't want any shading or anything like that as I think the outline on its own is just perfect.

Next I got my ankle done last November. This is Elvish from Lord of the Rings, and something that I wanted for a while. I haven't told anyone what it means, just me and the tattoo artist knows, but if you can read Elvish then be my guest to try and figure this out :P

For my 20th birthday, my boyfriend very kindly paid for me to have my back done, which was amazing and I was and still am so so grateful for it. The idea behind this is that I am trying to follow a Buddhist lifestyle, and I wanted something to represent this. It is a Tibetan Buddha inside a mandala. I know this is not a typical Buddhist mandala, but this is just how I envisioned it in my head. The mandala represents wisdom, as well as being a guide in aiding meditation, something which I struggle with from time to time.

My final tattoo is my little 13. I got this done a couple of weeks ago on Friday 13th, the only one this year! It's on the top of my forearm, just under my ditch. I love the stitching design, and reminds me of Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas one of my all time fave Tim Burton films. I really wanted a Friday 13th tattoo and I thought this was mega cute.

Thanks for reading!

Layla x

Hello!

Today I started my Happiness Planner and I wanted to share it with you all. The Happiness Planner is a book that you can buy in various forms, I bought the 100 day one, just because I didn't want to commit to a 52 week one because sometimes (okay, all the time) I'm a bit useless at these things. But I thought it would be a nice thing to do, and it'd be a bonus if it kind of works.

The idea is to set goals in order to make yourself happier with your day to day life. In between pages, there are quotes, as well as daily quotes every day you fill in.

The planner comes in various colours, but I picked lilac as it's my fave colour. The book is hardback and comes in a hard sleeve, and has a ribbon to mark which day you're on.

It starts with a serious of things that reflect on what makes you happy/unhappy and what you think are your strengths and weaknesses. Before you start the planner, it asks you how you feel.

The planner has a weekly overview and then a daily overview.

Each day it asks you to write down what your plans are for the day, and afterwards how you day went.

Once you've finished the hundred days, there's a little review at the end, and see if the planner has helped.

On The Happiness Planner website, there is also printables to go alongside the planner, such as change a habit in 30 days, and pencils and a happy notes notebook. I think the idea of this is brilliant, and I can't wait to have my 100 day journey. And hey, if it works, I'll probably buy the 52 week version.

Once I've finished my planner in 100 days, I will write another post about how I got on with it and my opinions.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and you should try The Happiness Planner out!! Or if you have tried it, let me know how you got along with it please, I'd love to know :)

Thanks for reading,
Layla x