You Know You're Nearly 30 When...

In celebration of my birthday this week here's a list of how you know when you've nearly reached the big 3-0...

Image Source

1. You walk into a bar secretly hoping they might still ask you for ID and then delight if they do and realise how old you are

2. You mourn your Young Person's Railcard and its discount.. why is there no in-between railcard?!

3. You happily drink red wine after years of only having white or rose. Red wine was something your parents drank it wasn't for you, now you'll happily drink all the wine

4. You don't have a clue who's at number 1 in the charts and you're still surprised to find out it's no longer on a Sunday evening

5. You find yourself switching to Radio 2 more and more. You ain't got no time for dance music pre 10am. All the DJ's you used to listen to on Radio 1 seem to be on there now too

6. You keep thinking about your 30 things to do before you're 30 list and wondering why you haven't managed to buy your dream house, travel round the world and achieve all your goals in the last 12 months

7. Weekend plans revolve around brunch. Forget clubbing, brunch followed by just a quick drink in that bar.. which inevitably turn into several more. You can recover tomorrow on the sofa with a Come Dine With Me marathon

8. You walk through Topshop and know to head straight for the beauty section or handbags. You pass by the rails continuously questioning what is it, is it a top or a skirt?! You know to keep on walking

9. You get excited about going to a Farmers Market.. even if it's just to buy all the cakes, bread and cheese

10. You're expected to have a fully fledged skincare routine and to have been using anti ageing products for the past 10 years, you know, just in case. You know never to mention make up wipes to beauty consultants on the make up counters, you may as well tell them you've been washing your face with rocks

11. You can't cope with hangovers, especially as they now seem to last all weekend

12. Your social calendar fills up with weddings, hen do's and baby showers

13. When you're filling in a form you're annoyed when you now have to tick the next age bracket  

14. You enter a bar and it's one of your groups job to secure seats, you don't want to be standing up all night

15. You start to make practical purchases, yes you need that fancy new blender. It's surely the key to your sparkling new healthy lifestyle

16. You find yourself talking about something that happened at Uni and then realise it was 10 years ago

17. You don't understand Snapchat and you're happy to leave it to the 'young people' 

18. You realise you don't need to wear skyscraper heels on every night out, you'd much rather be able to walk without having to remove your shoes halfway through the night

2016 Goals

I'm generally not a big fan of New Year's resolutions and the cliche 'New Year, New Me' that we inevitably see doing the rounds at this time of year. I think it only serves to put unnecessary pressure on ourselves. As long as we're trying to do our best everyday surely we're doing ok without setting unrealistic aims such as becoming a total detox goddess come January or going to the gym everyday. However this time of year always does make you reflect (maybe it's all the sitting around over Christmas!) and think what you'd like to achieve over the next 12 months. It's good to have goals and something positive to focus on especially during the colder months. These are 5 things I'd like to do this year...

1. Travel
I've really wanted to visit Las Vegas ever since I started looking into it a couple of years ago. I subsequently received a Las Vegas travel guide last Christmas and I'm now hooked! It'd be great to take in all the sights and visit the different casinos, go shopping (of course!) and combine it with a trip to the Grand Canyon. I'd love to plan a trip there so fingers crossed. I'd also love to return to New York, I instantly fell in love with the city when I first visited a few years ago and would love to go back. I've always wanted to go in December to see the tree at Rockefeller Center and the city all lit up for Christmas. I hope to visit more cities around Europe and to explore more areas of London too. I'd better get saving!

2. Organise & Print Photos 
This is something I keep meaning to do but I'm determined to actually get organised and do it this year! I'm guilty of uploading some of my favourite photos to social media and then never really doing anything with them. I miss having actual photo albums to look through, scrolling through on your phone just isn't the same. I've got many empty albums waiting to be filled so I have no excuse. I especially want to create albums from various trips and print photos of family and friends to put in the numerous frames I keep buying!

3. Visit more Exhibitions 
I went to some great exhibitions last year including the highly anticipated McQueen Savage Beauty at the V&A and more recently Mademoiselle Prive at the Saatchi Gallery. It's great to escape for a few hours and loose yourself amongst the art or learn about something new. I've already bookmarked the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition starting in the summer at the Tate Modern. The Saatchi is one of my favourite galleries in London and somewhere I hope to visit more in 2016. They have some really interesting exhibitions and it's free entry too.

4. Enjoy more Theatre & Comedy Shows
I love visiting the theatre and I'm always adding to the list of shows I'd like to see. I'm celebrating my birthday soon and would love to go and see a show as part of the celebrations! I've heard great reviews of Book of Mormon and I'd love to see Phantom in London having loved it in NYC. I want to see more plays too and take advantage of the January ticket offers and the half price hut. I was lucky enough to see lots of my favourite comedians last year including the wonderful Luisa Omielan at the Udderbelly Festival on the Southbank in summer as well as a whole host of great shows at Edinburgh Fringe in August. There's nothing better than laughing so much that you're nearly falling off your chair! I hope to be able to see lots more of these great comedians and discover some new ones this year too.

5. Improve Photography & Develop Blog 
I've recently been relying on using my iPhone for all my photos, it's just so convenient although it's not ideal for all types of photos or for high quality images. I'd been looking into a new camera for a while and recently took the plunge with an Olympus Pen. I can't wait to get started and hope it'll improve my blog photos as well as capturing all the trips I'd like to take! Alongside improving my photography I hope to develop my blog this year and feature more lifestyle posts of places I visit and things I've done as these are some of my favourite types of posts both to put together and to read about on other blogs.

What do you hope to achieve in 2016?