December 2020 / ChloeHarriets

My 2021 New Year Admin Checklist | Life Organisation

Monday, 28 December 2020

Smiling Blogger Girl - getting organised for a new year - new years admin blogpost

With Christmas gone, and a new year approaching, we're currently in that stage of limbo, where you don't really know what day it is, you're diet consist of mainly of cheese and chocolate and you can't remember the last time you changed out of your PJ's.

Whatever you fancy doing in this time, you do you. If you want to relish in doing nothing, go for it but this blog post might not be the one for you. I sit firmly in the camp of overly enthusiastic when it comes to a new year, but I understand some people are the total opposite and really couldn't care less about the change of dates.

Personally, I find after Boxing Day there's only so much more watching Netflix, doing puzzles and eating pringles I can do. I get itchy to prepare for the New Year (which again is not something you need to do if you want to carry on as you've been going). But I love any excuse for a new start. I like to begin a year feeling both organised and hopeful for what's to come. I like to use the end of a year as the push I need to catch up on the life admin I've been putting off, so I can go into the new year with what feels like a clean slate. Each year I write myself a list of admin to complete before the new year, or within the first week of January, this year I thought I'd share it.

My 2021 New Year admin checklist:

- Organise my space:

Decide how I'm storing any Christmas gifts, my belongings should have their own home within my home. Get rid of the worn things I no longer want or need. Go through drawers and reduce clutter.

- Give my phone a spruce up:

Change my phone background and rearrange my apps. Delete the ones I don't need. Go through my photos and delete those accidental selfies and unnecessary screenshots.

- Write a to-read list:

Get excited about the book I plan on getting lost in the new year. I also set my Goodreads goal for the year.

- Plan my blog content:

I always get the blogging bug back when a new year comes along - while I feel inspired I like to do as much blogging and planning as I can.

- Go through my finances:

Check if there are any direct debits I can cancel. Plan my budgets for the coming months.

- Unsubscribe to unwanted emails:

Get the inbox back down to 0, and stop the junk coming back.

- Put any dates into my diary for next year:

I don't want to be forgetting friends birthdays or missing appointments.

- Go through my laptop:

Clear unwanted files, put photos onto a hard drive, organise files.

- Social media maintenance:

Check bios are up-to-date, unfollow and mute accounts I don't love, change any profile pictures that need changing.

- Check all tech is up-to-date:

Finally, do that laptop update which I've been clicking remind me tomorrow on for the last 8 months.

- Update my blog media pack and CV:

Add on those achievements from 2020.

- Clean out my makeup bag:

It's usually looking pretty grimy at this point, so it's time to throw out those old mascaras and clean up the loose powder and foundation spills.

How do you like to get organised for a new year?!

I hope you found this post useful!

Chloe x

The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne | Book Review

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

I recently finished reading The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne, I closed the final page and thought 'that was important, everyone needs to read this book'.

(Trigger warning - abusive relationships are a theme running through the book and touched on in this review.)

The Places I've Cried in Public is written in the perspective of Amelie, a teen who has moved away from her friends and boyfriend and is starting college in a new city. Amelie meets Reece, who is charming, despite the red flags. They begin a new romantic relationship, which you later realise is anything but romantic.

The book follows two different timelines, as Amelie gets inspired from a school project, and decides to revisit the places she's cried in public since moving cities. It's in these locations she reflects and tells the stories behind what lead to the tears. So we get both get present-day Amelie who is trying to move forward and heal, and past Amelie who feels she's in love but is being manipulated.

I'm not going to lie, on beginning the book, I didn't love it. It's a young adult story, and initially, I found it felt too young be to reading it as a 29-year-old woman. There was naivety to the main character, and she sometimes came across unreliable (in love with her boyfriend Alfie back home and then immediately besotted with Reese - however this may be a trope of young love along with everything else) and slightly childish (she falls out with friends and is disrespectful to her parents). However, I later found these details which I didn't love about the narrator later came into play. They were a result of how she'd treated rather than personality traits which really highlights how relationships can affect a person. To begin with, it was an easy read, so I keep going, and then a transformation happened. Pieces of the story fell together, and I realised there was much more to it than I initially realised. It was no longer an easy read but I couldn't put it down. It was heart-wrenching.

The Places I've Cried in Public tells the story of an abusive relationship from the perspective of the victim. It shows how abuse can be subtle, isolating and destructive all at the same time. It sheds light on why people fall in love with abusers, grow reliant on them, and see goodness in the person who is gaslighting them.

This book is a great tool for young women as it shows the signs of an unhealthy relationship. There are also conversations with a therapist within the story which are educational. These conversations give useful information such as the impacts of trauma, and how to know when a relationship is unhealthy.

There's also far more to the story than you expect, and there's also a twist towards the end which highlights however extreme abuse might be victims might rewrite the narrative rather than facing the trauma, and as a way to protect their abuser.

It's raw, emotional and relatable - even for those who haven't experienced the same.

This might be a really hard read, for some more than others, but I think it's an important read. Although the subject matter of the book is heavy, the book still very much feels like a young adult read. It also explores themes of friendships, new starts, family relationships and coming of age.