My life in January

The first month of the year has already ended. Time is already going by fast! I've decided to continue doing monthly life posts on my blog. Last year I kind of just shares things I did or events I went to. This year I was to do it a little different, but I will still share fun things I did during the month if they are worth sharing. I really didn't do much in January, so I hope by the things I'm sharing in this post you'll kind of get an idea of what I mean by this post being different. I just want to share more of 'me' rather than 'things I did'. I hope that makes sense. I've also changed the total to 'My Life in..(whatever month it is), rather that Monthly Recap. I've also decided not to do the Document Your Life videos this year. I'm kind of sad that I'm not because I really had so much fun doing them but I also felt super pressured to take videos all the time. I didn't even do ones last year for November and December because I just didn't have much to document and it didn't make sense to make a video that was like a minute long. I might consider doing seasonal ones instead. 

Journaling 

I've been meaning to start a journal for a while now. I finally did earlier in January so I've been focused on that and keeping it up. It took me so long to start because I always just felt kind of silly writing down my thought and it was awkward. Now it doesn't feel as weird so I'm happy. I love collecting journals and notebooks even though I rarely use them, so I had a handful of empty ones. I really wanted a new one since it was a new year but I never got around to getting one. So I started a journal in a notebook I had, and I wasn't feeling it at all so I actually chose another one I had and started over. That might sound weird, but I just didn't feel connected with the first one so it was really sloppy. With the second one I started I felt a lot better with. The owls and woodsy cover definitely has been fitting my mood lately, too. 

Outdoors 

I've really been wanting to spend more time outside. Right now it's pretty cold out where I live, and I work during the day almost all week so it makes it hard. I think that's why the journal I'm writing in fit my mood. Anyways- I want to make a bigger effort to go outside more and enjoy fresh air and nature. 

I finally got a pair of Hunter boots, thank you to my husband! I've seriously wanted a pair for 2 years. I ended up getting some in kids sizes since my feet are ridiclously small but that's good because they were $70 cheaper. I also bought a backpack from Hmong Hill. This company is a sister company to The Elephant Pants and they donate money from each bag sold to education programs around the world. When I first learned about these I just really wanted one of their bags and couldn't stop thinking about buying for for almost 2 month. I really have no need for a backpack but I mean, it's something everyone could use right? I figured if we went on trips I would use it or over to a friends house I could use to put all my stuff in. So both of these items right now kind of go hand in hand with me wanting to spend more time outdoors. I just picture myself going to walks or hikes with my cute backpack. Lol, I'm such a dork, I know. And I didn't have any good boots for winter time so it's s win win situation with the boots ;) 

What I read in January and my current read 

I didn't read as many books this month as I would like to. I only read one book and two mangas. I read The Traitors Wife and it was a super good book. I talked about it in my January favorites so I won't talk about it much here. If you like historical fiction books then I highly recommend this one. For mangas I read the first two volumes of Full Metal Alchemist. The book I have is a bind up of the first three, so I'm one the third one now. That's all I the books I completed and right now I'm reading The Tea Rose, which I'll finish next month in Feburary. This is a re read for me, and probably my all time favorite book. Another amazing historical fiction book that I can't recommend enough. Even if you've never read a historical fiction book , I still recommend it! I always enjoy re reading books I love, and this time through I'm noticing so many things I didn't before! I really wanted to make monthly book videos on what I read but I just felt like with only reading one book, which I already mentioned in a video, and two mangas it wasn't enough or worth it to make a video. Maybe I'll just do videos if I read a lot, and keep the shorter ones for a blog post or include it in there posts. 

I may or may not have rambled enough in this post already. This new year for me started off a little rough. I was very emotional and stressed out so I was a little down for a week or two. I don't exactly know what was causing me to feel that way but I felt better last week. Now I'm sick with a cold which totally sucks and I'm trying to decide if I need to go to the doctor or not. I might have a sinus infection. Ugh! Anyways- I'm trying to work on not being stressed out so much and be more positive and not let stupid things get me down, which I think was my problem at the beginning of the month. I'm very hopeful about some things that I think are going to happen in the near future, but you'll hear about those in a different post! 

Things I'm trying to work on 

-I've been trying to take better pictures for my blog and Instagram. I think I'm doing okay, but I get excited when I have something to take a photo of! 

-Trying to be happy with what I have, and not always want new things. I hope this doesn't make me sound bratty, but I always feel like there's new makeup, purses, and other things coming out that I always want. These are things I don't need so I'm going to try to remember that when there's something I want!

-Fitness. Sometimes that's a word I dread even saying. I've started and restarted a fitness journey so many times.  I hope this one sticks! 

How was your January? Did you have a good start to the year?