Last year with my resolutions I never really tried to achieve them, I just wrote the list and kind of forgot about them if I am honest. This year I really want to achieve them and have the best year after a mess of last year! 2017 is already set to be good because I am  going to China and Florida and I am so excited! I absolutely love travelling and I can't wait to fulfil at least some of my wanderlust.

I started thinking of ways I could actually achieve my resolutions this year (if you want to know what they are, the link is here) and I thought I would share them to help you guys achieve them as well.

1. Set goals that you can actually achieve
If you set unrealistic goals, you are less likely to achieve them and then you will feel bad about yourself.

2. Pick a resolution per month to work on
This means that you can focus on it instead of trying to do all of them and becoming overwhelmed.

3. Tell other people
If you tell your friends and family, they will help encourage you to do it! For example, telling you to go on your daily run instead of sitting inside You may find they have similar resolutions and then you can work and encourage each other together!

4. Give yourself rewards
If you complete a whole week of your resolution, treat yourself to that mascara you've always wanted or a new piece of clothing.

5. Don't be harsh on yourself
If you don't achieve it, don't be hard on yourself and beat yourself up about it. On average it takes 66 days to learn a new habit so if you miss a day at the start it isn't bad.

I am so excited for Through Our Eyes' first Christmas! I can't believe it's December already! I get so excited when it's December, as do so many other people! How can you not love Christmas? So I've decided to kick off blogmas with my favourite things about Christmas, both now and when I was a child.

I have to admit, finding out that there was no Santa really didn't bother me, although there is so much I miss about believing in Santa! I miss writing my Christmas lists addressed to him, I miss being on the naughty and nice list and I also miss leaving a stranger a cookie and milk for the rest of his travels to young kids like me, not to forget the one carrot I left out for all nine reindeer's - the logic! So here's a list of what I loved about Christmas when I believed in Santa:

• The Christmas spirit in school - I loved doing Christmas plays, wearing Christmas jumpers, raising money for that one girl or boy my teacher picked for our class just so Santa could visit her and leave her some presents and every lesson in December being Christmas related!! Who else misses the paper tree decorations and the personalized Christmas cards we took home to our parents?! 

• Having chocolate every morning from my advent calendar!

• Going to visit the fake Santa's in their grotto's just for the chocolate selection box! Although, I don't look very pleased with mine in this picture! He obviously didn't give me that rabbit I wanted.. 

• Singing Christmas songs on repeat, all day, every day!
• Watching back-to-back episodes on Disney Channel for days and watching all the Christmas specials!
• Trying my hardest to stay awake to catch Santa in the act or to hear him, but falling asleep the next morning to all the presents he had left so neatly in my living room! OR most years I would wake up with a new bedding and pajamas which "Santa" magically changed in the middle of the night!
• Waking up at 5AM to see if Santa had come, waking up my parents and making them watch me open all my presents - sorry, but I'm not!
• Opening all my presents.. that's an obvious one!
• Spending time with my family and finding out what Santa brought all my cousins.
• Writing a thank you letter to Santa for all the gifts and that I hope he has plenty of rest to deliver more to me next year (what a cheek!).
• Having a second Christmas Day on Boxing Day because my parents were separated! I loved a double Christmas!!!

When we decided this theme, I planned to write about how much I love blogging and how great it is but now I feel in such a slump with blogging. I can't think of any ideas for my blog and no time to post anything. I think the main reason is because I am so so busy with school. So today I thought I would write about why I love blogging so that I might feel motivated to blog again.

I always feel like the months whizz past and I never feel like I make the most of them and make memories. To counter this, I make bucket lists or lists of things I want to achieve so I thought I would share my autumn one with you. Hopefully this helps you or or gives you some inspiration.

Hello! My name is Laura and I live in England. I am the person behind the blog Blossom Of Hope. I am sure you know by now that there is a new group of people who are part of Through Our Eyes and I am so happy to say that I am one of them! Like the other girls, I thought I would do an introductory post so that you can get to know me more. I find it really awkward and hard coming up with loads of facts so I have decided to do 7.



1. I love blogging
This kind of goes without saying! I have been blogging for a year and a half and I love it. I love seeing an idea in your head become real on a page. I love taking photos for blog posts and I love reading blog posts. Blogging has made such an impact on me as a person and it makes me very happy.

2. I am studying French, Chinese, Sociology and Geography at GCSE level.
I have always been a fan of languages so it made sense that I chose them. I had never done sociology before GCSE's but I enjoy it so much! At the moment we are learning about how gender effects our identity and it is so interesting.

3. I have wanderlust
I want to have a gap year after my a-levels and spend it travelling with my friends. My top location is Paris. It is such a beautiful city and the location of my favourite book so I want to experience it for myself.



4. I love taking photos
One of my hobbies is taking photos, mainly to share on my blog, but also on Instagram, or just to keep for myself. Recently I have bought myself a new camera and have been trying out new techniques such as the one above with exposure changes. I love displaying photos on my wall in a huge photo grid so I can relive all of the memories.

5. I love listening to music
I find music so calming and relaxing and it is what I do if I need a break. I always listen to it when I work. My favourite band is 5SOS and I have seen them in concert twice and both days have been incredible. Their lyrics and songs are so beautiful and I love all of their songs.

6. I am a feminist
Google says feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes." I am a feminist and proud to be one. Women are seen as lesser beings in society and this need to change.  

7. I love decorating my room
I really enjoy changing my room up and making my own decor peices to go in it. It is so creative and relaxing. At the moment I am in the mood for a big change where I paint the walls and change the colour scheme but I am not sure what to yet. I am thinking white and black but I don't know.

Today I'm going to be sharing a personal post, which hopefully, you can all relate to at some point in your life. If you regularly read my content on this blog, or even my own blog, you may realize that it has been empty and so boring. I haven't really been consistent with both blogs either, which is something I really wanted to do.

I never really go on holidays - although I really want to travel. My last holiday was two years ago with my grandparents, auntie, uncle and two cousins and we went to Benidorm for a week. Before that I went on a trip with my school (it was more like two teachers and 4 friends) as an "exchange" student for a week to Paris. My holidays before that were to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, to spend time with my step father at the time. I really did enjoy going out there as it was something different. I also really loved their chips and mayo. But by far, the biggest holiday I have been on is to Orlando, Florida, which was back in 2006. Apart from that I always went on little holidays when I was younger, to places such as Butlins and Tenby.

I know a lot of people who go on holiday often, like my cousins - they go at least five times a year. So they probably scratch their heads and thing "What the hell does she do in the holidays??"..

One thing I hate is routine, so being out of college helps me do more things. The only routine I do have is when I see my boyfriend as we tend to be busy at the same times - so it just works out. This year has been different to most years so, I'm going to share with you what I have done.

June.
College broke up in June. June was full of stress relief from the exams. When I finally broke up from college, I was surprised with my very own car. I thought "finally, I can be free!". I enjoyed my new car with my friends and embraced every moment of that milestone. It was fun, it was great and most of all it was new.

July.
I celebrated my best friend's 18th in July. Literally, the first day of July. The rest of July resulted in me working - not all the time, but most of the time. However, I did manage to squeeze in time to see my cousins, who may I add I don't see often as it's hard to get to them. But now I have a car, so I can do whatever and go wherever I want, as and when I want to! I went shopping with my cousin and we enjoyed a ride to Mumbles - which is a lovely place in Wales on a sunny day. If you're ever in Wales, you have to go to Mumbles.. only if it's sunny though! I also spent time with both of my cousins on a separate occasion where we went for a *cheeky* Nandos! Sorry, I had to. I don't think I've spent time with the two of them together for a very long time, I must've been about 12 when we last spent a whole day together!

I took my father out for his first real spin as a qualified driver with me in my car. It was quite strange as I picked him up. But nevertheless, it was fun - however, I'm no taxi! I've also been taking my mother back and forth to work this summer, which again is strange, but for her, I really am a taxi.

In June, this blog also launched, which I had been really busy with too, trying to finalize everything. I have also been trying to organize my room to the way I want it, so looking at designs take time too.

July also gave me the opportunity to go out on a real night out with my three best friends. We have never all been out together before, so this made me happy. I'm the soppy friend, so yes, every moment does matter.

August.
August August August. I hate thinking of August. Mainly because it's the last month of the holidays and I realize I really haven't done that much with my life. However, the two good things which came from August is that my best friend and my boyfriend both turned 18! Although, you know what that means ££££££££££££! I'm broke! That's a lot of presents and a lot of food! But that doesn't matter because they are totally worth it.

I went to the cinema this week and I watched Suicide Squad. It's such a great film and if you haven't watched it already, then you definitely need to.

Now comes the part I hate. It is currently 12:43am, Thursday 18th August. Anyone who's in sixth form or college knows this date. It's results day. I thought holiday's are meant to be relaxing?? There is nothing relaxing about results day! Or the week leading up to it. I'm usually really optimistic and enthusiastic, however, I'm not feeling so optimistic for today. By the time this post goes up, I'll already know my results - which I'm hoping will turn out okay this year. As I'm no stranger to failure as last year I failed two of the last papers by one mark each... But, this year is different right? We'll see, I hope.

For the rest of the holidays, I'm either going to celebrate with my intelligent friends, or, I'm going to celebrate for my friends and then just drown in my sorrows. I'm joking! I plan to plan my next academic year. I also plan to spoil myself loads, whether I get the results I want or not, as pay day is tomorrow and I literally haven't spent more than a tenner on myself the last month! I also plan to plan my next academic year - if I even decide to go back.

More and more people are becoming aware of the many ways you are able to stop becoming pregnant. After all, unplanned pregnancy doesn't always go down well with the people around you or maybe even yourself. But these birth control methods can be used for other uses which can help us OR even make us ill.

Dear Diary,

7 AM...

Im so happy today is the first day of year 5 and i cant wait to see callum <3<3<3 we have now been going out for all the summer so 6 weeks. it is longer than we have been out before and now i love him so much more than before<3 i told you before every day he nocked on my door to see if i wanted to go down the park with him. we had fun this summer and went out to the shop nearly every day for sweets and a blue drink.
anyway today is the first day of year 5 and i have to go becose mammy is shouting at me to get ready!!

3 PM

callum is the love of my life!! in class he cut out a heart but it looked a bit funny becose it didnt look like one but it is so cute i stuck it here -> for you look! isnt it cute he even tried to colour it in all but miss davies caught him lol and he got in trouble but he threw it at me. at lunch time i made a heart for him and wrot in it saying i love him forever. he looked at me and smiled. g2g food!!

7 PM

i just came home from the park with callum aaron and tommy were out to! i said to callum no not now because he tried to kiss me what the hell!! im so emb enbaresd becose my friends aaron and tommy were out he tried again what a weird boy so we broke up and now i hate him. i want to tell mammy but she might give me a row for thinking about kissing boys. ill go down stares and i will try to tell her ill let you know

9 : 13 PM

hello i told mammy and she didnt give me a row. she said i was a good girl for saying no and braking up with callum. i said to her i hate him and never want to see him again becose he eats his boogies. i cant belive i gave him my heart earlier, i want it back i will ask him tomorrow because i dont love him forever! goodnight ill talk tomorrow when i have some sleep to think about callum. <3<3

11 :45 PM i think

i should be in bed but i need to write this. right now my lamp is on but if mammy sees the light on she will be mad at me so i put my t shirt on it to make it a bit darker so i can write. i miss callum i cried for a few hours and i dont know what to do. im in trouble with my step dad for not eating my jam on tost and i hate him too. i hate callum and i hate my step dad. i love them and miss them when they go thouh.
shes coming bye


....

I hope this wasn't as painful to read as it was to write, because my grammar is horrendous! I don't just want to share with you a bit of my 9 year old diary - I also want to react to it! First of all, Callum was one of those boys in Primary School who would date everyone but he was clearly the love of my life when I was 9. I remember being obsessed with him, which is actually quite scary so please ignore that! I think I started liking him in year 3.. So, that would make me 7/8 and I stopped liking him and his boogers when I was about 11. My mother always found him cute and would always wind me up about him but I genuinely don't see what was so funny??

I actually remember this day which actually makes me laugh.. So basically I was so happy to see him, had his heart and then he crushed mine GREAT!! but I'm quite confused because I'm the one who ended the "relationship"? But seriously though, what was I thinking??! I could just imagine me sitting with my current boyfriend and cutting him out a paper heart, "love you forever xxx". No.

I have to agree with my nine year old self, the park part was quite EMBarassing, as Aaron was my life long best friend and Tommy just recently came and joined us, so I mean, where's the privacy?? I do think I was a bit harsh ending things with the boy seeing as all he tried to do is give me a smooch. But I was 8.. I couldn't even hold a hand when I was in Secondary School ha!

The fact that I wanted the cut out heart I made back is funny! As if he would keep it, he probably threw it in the bin.. But I clearly didn't bin his as I bloody sellotaped the thing to my diary ha!

This diary entry is nine years old in September and I can proudly say I can now write and spell much better, I am so over Callum, I have left school and I have a part time job, oh and instead of a diary I now write a blog.

Note to nine year old Whitney: Please don't ever put a T-Shirt on top of a lamp, you are asking for all kind of problems - mainly a fire. Also please don't cry over Callum or any other boy because you are better than that, you are only nine. However, in a few years you will have an actual hard break up I suppose, so stay strong and don't do anything stupid!

I've worked in a supermarket for over a year now, seriously, sometimes I wonder why I still do. If you work in retail then this is definitely a post you should relate to, otherwise, if you don't then please explain what you're doing so I can escape this madness. Also if you are someone who is planning to work in the world of retail then you should take what I say into account and of course, to see what you have to look forward to!



- Working stupid hours.
Ok, I have to admit, the hours are not as half as bad as a waitress job. However, I do find the hours are either stupidly short, for example my shortest shift I've been asked to work was an hour and a half - I said no though as it so wasn't worth the money, it would just enough cover my travelling costs! Also, my longest shift I have worked is 12 hours, on a TILL! Ok, so I do have two hours break, but that still equals to sitting on a till for ten hours, which is actually disgusting and was quite literally the worst shift I have ever done in my life.

- The Customer is "always" right.
I hate this saying. Everyday I'm in work I hear at least one person say it - sometimes it's a customer! But seriously, sometimes the customer is right but the majority of the time, they are really not! "I'm sorry you thought the bottle of water was 60p but you actually looked at the wrong la - - -", "No I didn't, I'll take you to it myself!". Seriously? As if working unsociable hours was hard enough!

- Opens the till - "Oh I've got the odd in change!"
This is something which annoys me so much. Some customers love to make life easier but are actually making it a whole lot more difficult for us. The total adds up to £66.97 and they give you £70 and as soon as you open the till they decide to throw you the 97p or maybe £1?? Seriously, I'm so confused now!

- It's just downright boring!
No explanation needed.

- Saying the same thing to every customer.
Hi, how are you? Would you like any bags? How many? The weather is nice today isn't it! Are you going anywhere nice this year? That's £££ please. Thank you, have a nice day/evening. Also, I get confused and sometimes I tell them to have a good evening in the bloody morning!

- Moody customers.
I understand that some customers aren't having the greatest of days - but, that does not mean you can be rude to us! Just imagine having to serve over a hundred moody customers, not nice!

- The hierarchy is extremely visible.
If you like working somewhere where you feel like a peasant then retail is the place to work! I've never felt so low down - but I guess that's work for you!

- "There's no barcode on this, I'll get someone to check"
This has to be the most annoying situation ever. Every shift I have one customer who has an item without a barcode and they then go in a right tiff with me, as if it's my fault! Well, no, you should have picked up one with a barcode!

- Always being indoors.
If you're lucky enough to work outside in the sector then this point doesn't apply to you and hell do I envy you! But there is nothing worse being stuck indoors with a big in your face window when the sun is out!

Hi everyone, seeing as this week is TV week, I'm going to do the Gossip Girl Tag which I've found floating around google.





*If you haven't watched Gossip Girl and you are planning to watch it or if you are in the middle of watching it then, *WARNING* do not read on! I promise you it's not worth spoiling!

How did you discover the show?
I have heard about it for a while, loads of people rambled on about the show and one day I decided to give it a go on Netflix.

Who's your favourite character?
It's so hard to decide who my favourite character is!! My main favourites are Blair, Chuck, Serena, Nate, Lily, Rufus and Dan. Although if I really had to choose it would be between Blair and Chuck because I love their characters soooo much and both character developments are so good, especially Chucks - considering I hated him in Season 1!

Who would you see yourself being friends with on the show?
Probably Serena, as she's probably the one who would stick by me through most things - but then again I think I'd probably end up being one of Blair's minions!

Chair or Dair?
WHAT THE HELL WAS DAIR NO NO NO! Chair is everything, I even have withdrawals about them.. How are they now? What do they do? How's their child? Where do they live??????!!!!

What's your favourite ship that would never actually happen?
I hate to say it but I always loved Derena, but I also loved Lily and Rufus together.. But both relationships had so many problems - but I was so happy that Derena married at the end. I actually liked Nate and Serena together and Nate and Vanessa... I don't know, Nate suited everyone OK?

If you were to be a character, who would you be?
Probably Serena - no explanation!

Have you read the book series?
Unfortunately not. I'm not much of a reader as it is, so reading a whole series would be pure dedication. But I really do want to watch the Gossip Girl spin off of Jenny.

Who was your crush on the show?
It was always Nate as he is undeniably handsome, kind, sweet and actually innocent for most of the show. However, when I started seeing Chuck's real character show, I fell for him so bad - I'm so guilty!

What was your first initial thought of the show?
The first time I tried to watch it was awful, I absolutely hated it, I didn't even get through the Pilot. However, I did give it a second chance a few months later and I'm so glad that I did - although, sometimes I wish I didn't watch it because it took over my life and now I'm still having a hard time coping because it's over.

Who was your favourite villain?
Jack and Georgina definitely!

Oh I'm glad that's over! Now I'm going to have to take my mind off it because as soon as I start thinking about Gossip Girl I have serious, bad, unhealthy withdrawals.

It's safe to say that I am super excited about my first ever post on this blog today!! It's introduction week, so I've decided to answer 18 questions about myself because I'm 18 years old, from some random tag I found on google.

What is your middle name?
My middle name is Loren. My mother called me Whitney Loren after Whitney Houston and Sophia Loren. Personally, I think Loren is so much prettier!

What is your favourite colour?
My favourite colour at the moment is red - however I'm so basic that my the majority of my clothes are black and white, so you could say them too!

Who was your first best friend?
My first ever best friend who isn't family was this girl called Alex. It actually broke my heart when I found out she was moving away to England with her family to stay with her gran as she was ill - but we never kept in touch! Alex if you read this one day, maybe you'll remember me.. PS: Both of our mothers names are Melanie, maybe now you remember me???

Cats or Dogs?
I love both cats or dogs, but honestly I could live with a million cats. I have three cats but I only see one all the time - as I don't live with my dad. Lexi, Poppy and Caspar.

What was the funniest moment throughout school?
There are two funny moments - one where looking back now is funny but back then wasn't and one story where I still laugh to this day for no reason whatsoever.
Story #1: When I was around 5 or 6 I decided I hated the name Whitney, typical, and decided I wanted my name to be Sophia. So when I started school, my teachers asked me my name and I said Sophia. Obviously the name Whitney was on the register and not Sophia, so every time the teachers called Whitney out on the register nobody answered. One day my mother picked me up from school and told me she's had a phone call from the school asking why she hasn't been taking me to school - but she had been and she nor the head master could figure out this misunderstanding. Until my mother realized I never replied to the name Whitney and soon clicked that I was going under a different name the whole time.. Yikes, I was in trouble!
Story #2: I was reading an extract from a book to my teacher by her desk in Year 5 (so that would make me 9 or 10), when my head master came into the room and said "oh hi Whitney, what's your name" .. bearing in mind I was in a totally different school to when I named myself Sophia, so they didn't know this.. So why did he ask me my name when he already said "HI WHITNEY"???? It wasn't long until I burst out laughing, to the point where I was crying and quite literally could not stop laughing. I then got sent out of the class for disrupting the class and as I walked down the corridor I let out a huge squeal of some sort when my "school crush" was at the other end starring at me. It's safe to say I died. Even now I'm laughing - but I honestly don't get what's bloody funny!

(that was longer than intended)

How many countries have you visited?
To be honest, I haven't traveled much.. But I've been to America, France, Germany, Amsterdam, Spain and I guess you could say England too? So 5 or 6 if you count England.

Are you in college?
Yes. I just finished resitting first year college. So, what I mean to say is hopefully in September I will be going into my second year - and not resitting first year again!

What is your favorite movie?
I have a few favourite movies. I'm kind of old school - of course I love movies now, but I feel like you can't rewatch most movies these days - or it's just me being too into old movies? So basically: Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Ghost, Sister Act, Grease, Footloose. (and more but..)

What is your favourite drink?
My all time favourite drinks are Lemonade and Fanta/Tango. And if it's alcoholic then pineapple and Malibu or Banana Colada!

What is your favourite perfume?
100000000000000000% Si by Giorgio Armani!

Do you have any siblings?
Unfortunately not. Sometimes I love not having a brother or sister - but sometimes I wish I had their company.

What is your favourite food?
Apart from anything chocolate, I am a huge lover of chicken. I literally love chicken so much that I dream about eating it - weird, right?

What is your favourite restaurant?
I hate to say it but I love it, Nandos!

What are some of your favourite TV shows?
I loved Gossip Girl so much, so that is definitely up there. But for ongoing TV shows, I love love love Eastenders, The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars.

What phone do you have?
iPhone 6s in Rose Gold.

Do you have any bad habits?
Yes. Unfortunately, all I wear is fake nails and that is because I have such a bad habit of biting my nails, which I find extremely unhygienic! Therefore I buy a pack of glue on nails every week and it stops my terrible habit, plus they're so much easier to maintain - but I don't recommend them all the time like I do because my nails underneath are worse than ever!

What is your favourite song at the moment?
Right now I'm loving Good Grief by Bastille and Tilted by Christine and the Queens.

What is your favourite shop?
The shops I shop at most are New Look and Boots.