THE START OF A BRAND NEW YEAR

The first few days of 2015 have been a wonderful whirlwind of time spent with family and friends.

New Years Day was a combined celebration of the New Year and my Auntie Jan's birthday. She came round with her mum Mary - unfortunately hubby Clive was unwell and couldn't join us - and mum cooked a delicious roast dinner for us all.

The next few days were spent catching up with some of my very best friends.

Crissy and I hit the shops, before she very sweetly took me for lunch and made me laugh more than I have laughed in ages!

That night, I met up with my beautiful friend Laura for long catch up chats over dinner and a glass of wine at Jamie's Italian. She always looks amazing!

We talked at length about our exciting plans for 2015 - from work, to travel, to our respective relationships, and I left feeling so positive about the year ahead, which is normally the effect Laura has on me!

The next day, my mum drove me down to Southampton in the pouring rain to meet up with my two Uni besties, Megan and Charlie, and Charlie's beautiful little daughter Evie.

It was so amazing catching up with all of my family and friends this holiday, although there are a couple of friends I didn't get a chance to meet up with which is such a shame - Vicky was away skiing for New Year and Sean was busy being a rockstar with his band Room 94 (check them out here - 2015 is going to be big for them!)

Tomorrow is my last day in the UK before I fly back to Doha on Tuesday. I bought my mum tickets to see CATS the musical for her Christmas present, which we are heading in to London for tomorrow night, so that will be a wonderful way to see out this lovely holiday.

My next blog post will probably be from back in the sandpit, so I will catch up with you all there :)

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

"Dream big, work hard, stay focused & surround yourself with good people."

- unknown

I love a New Years resolution. They aren't everyones cup of tea, but I find something very motivational about looking at the year ahead as a fresh start, a chance to better myself and make my year the very best it can be.

With this in mind, here are my resolutions for 2015.

APPRECIATE EVERYTHING

Life is precious - if I didn't know this before, 2014 has certainly taught me this. I am blessed in so many ways, from my amazing family, fabulous friends, and my wonderful man, to the lifestyle I get to lead, and to the health I have. I will continue to count my blessings and appreciate how lucky I am, every day.

FOCUS ON HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Like most people, I have completely over indulged for the best part of December. It's unrealistic of me to say I'll be starting my health kick from now, as I'm still at home surrounded by so much amazing festive food! Shortbread? Okay, maybe just one. Chocolate torte? Oh, go on then. Sausage roll? Well, it would be rude not to, wouldn't it. Do you see my dilemma?! Once I'm back in the sandpit, however, I really want to improve my diet. I spent the best part of December devouring every sweet treat I could get my hands on, with excuses consisting of 'it's winter!' and 'it's Christmas!', but now that the festive period is over, I really need to be more sensible. I haven't so much as laid eyes on a vegetable until my New Years lunch today, which is pretty shocking, and my body is not thanking me for this. It's simple maths that eating bad food + not exercising = putting on weight. I'm going to reintroduce all of the good stuff into my diet, and get my lazy bum in to that gym. I spent NYE watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and I've got a body like Alessandra Ambrosio in my sights! 

Not only do I want to be healthy physically, I want to be sure I'm mentally happy and healthy too. 2014 was an incredibly worrying and stressful year, full of uncertainty, unhappiness, stress and anxiety, due to a multitude of reasons. Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve all of the above, so not only will getting back in to the gym and fitness classes help to get me feeling confident in myself again, it will also help to keep my anxiety in check. 

I will also be surrounding myself with good people - people who lift me up, support me, care for me, and who know that all of this is returned from my side. There was quite a lot of negativity in my life in 2014, and it's amazing how much that can affect your wellbeing. 

(Image from WeHeartIt)

SAY YES

Self explanatory - I want to say yes to more, and embrace every opportunity that comes my way. I have already said yes to something exciting that was proposed to me as a result of my blog, which I'm looking forward to getting involved with in 2015!

EMBRACE DOHA

I've lived in the Doha bubble for a year and a half now, and I still haven't really formed a circle of friends out there.  I want to get out more, do more, see more, and hopefully in the process meet new people and expand my social circle, as I know this would do me the world of good. I want to make the most of the sandpit this year, as I don't know how long I will be calling my adopted country home for (not a cryptic sentence, I genuinely don't know!)

LEARN FRENCH

This is something I have wanted to do for many months, and this is the year I plan to start to properly throw myself in to learning to speak francais!

TRAVEL

I want to tick off at least one of my dream destinations from my list this year! Paris, Venice, Maldives, Santorini...who knows which one it will be!

What are your resolutions this year?