This Month, I Have Been… December

Before 2014 finishes and I post my round up’s of this year, I wanted to look back on this final month of this pretty decent year. December has been packed like it always is for every person with meals, nights out, Christmas related things, shopping, organising etc. I’m not a huge Christmas fan but I like December, there is always so much to do, you see friends you may not have seen for a while and at the end of it all it is a good excuse to start a fresh with a brand new year with brand new possibilities and opportunities. Here’s how December has been for me.

Listening To: This month, I have been listening to plenty of tracks from Christmas songs [there everywhere!] to 80’s classics, my favourite man, Paolo Nutini, to my other favourite man, Olly Murs. And then there has been all the new music featured this month and the stuff that will be featured in the New Year. There is so much planned already for 2015 and I’ve not even listened to everything yet, expect plenty more new music coming your way in 2015.

This month, I have reviewed albums/EP’s by Southpaw with their great EP ‘In With A Chance?’ and the brilliant second EP from We The Wild entitled ‘Vol. 2’. I also put together my top 5 albums from the second half of 2015 featuring Paolo Nutini and To Kill A King.

And new music artists/tracks that have been featured include the wonderful As Elephants Are with their single ‘Crown’, Rayne and their single ‘Opportunity For Progress’, there was beautiful vocals from Laurel with her single ‘Memorials’, the great chilled out indie vibes of Sunset Sons, a great single for 2015 from PVRIS entitled ‘White Noise’, the ethereal sounds of ‘Paper Widow’ by Johanna Glaza, a great act to lok out for in 2015, Racing Glaciers and finally a new track from Walking On Cars entitled Always Be With You.

Check out this month’s playlist featuring everything that has been featured on the blog this month and a couple of Christmas songs because even though Christmas has gone they are something we have all been listening to a lot of this month:

Watching: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Criminal Minds, Gotham, The Missing Series Finale, The Apprentice, Strictly, Googlebox, Have I Got News For You and rewatching all the seasons of Girls. In the cinema, I have been watching the brilliant Paddington and the epic and awesome The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Nothing impresses me more than fight scenes between men, goblins, dwarves, elves, trolls and huge bats, it’s just flipping brilliant!

Reading:

Years ago I tried to read The Hobbit and just couldn’t get through it but now in the midst of my quite frankly huge LOTR and Hobbit obsessions I thought it was the perfect time to give the books another go. I’m so glad I did because this time I just could not put The Hobbit down, it is a wonderful book and story told perfectly through Tolkein’s wonderful writing style. These are books that every single person should read and while I still have The Lord of the Rings books to devour next year, they are already topping my list of favourite books I have ever read.

Currently Reading: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

Eating Out:

Veggie Burger at LAB, Leeds

Veggie Breakfast at Giraffe, Leeds

Veggie Burger at Smoke Barbecue, Sheffield

This month, I have reviewed LAB in Leeds, breakfast as Giraffe in Trinity, Leeds and Smoke Barbecue in Sheffield.

Loving:

Lush Face Mask – Love Lettuce – I’ve been using this particular face mask from Lush for well over a year and it has proved time and again to be a favourite of mine throughout good and bad skin days. Whether it is just a usual weekly face mask to tackle any build-ups and give my skin not only a treat but a good clean or whether it is to help out on a bad skin day, it always helps the look and feel of my skin. They may be more expensive than some cheaper face masks out there but they are by no means unaffordable at nearly £7. Keep it in the fridge and it will last a good month or two [depending on how much you use it] and then of course it is all made from fresh ingredients, by far the best things you could be putting on your skin.

Doing:

I got the amazing opportunity to work with Skype this month becoming one of the bloggers showcasing their Ones To Watch for 2015 with a selection of videos entitled #SkypeSix, their choices for 2015 include Danish band New Politics, country singer/songwriter Frankie Ballard, Irish rock band Kodaline and British singer/songwriter Alex Clare.

I got tattooed twice this month on my quest to complete my sleeve, I decided a long time ago that instead of a full sleeve I wanted smaller pieces or big tattoos that mean something rather than it being one huge piece. I’ve currently got 3 tattoos on my right arm and I know the other two that I want and the plan for next year is definitely to get those two done and my sleeve completed.

This month, there has been plenty going on from present wrapping, getting new glasses, sorting out life stuff, making plans career wise for 2015, starting the mammoth task of sorting out my portfolio and plenty of blog writing [so much content already planned for January]. But there has also been many fun moments like cinema trips, plenty of meals out mainly of the huge Christmas variety from Napoleons with mum to Zizzi’s with the girls, days and nights out and great times spent with the lovely people in my life, it has been a very good end to the year this December.

Some great finds from the Internet this month:

So if you hadn’t already noticed I’m slightly obsessed with Buzzfeed to the point where it could be becoming an issue for my working productivity, however their articles are always a great source of laughter and great for this section every month, here’s my picks of December:

– The best feminist quotes from this year, there is some amazing words in here and it is stuff like this that makes me feel empowered and ready to fight for equality for us all.

– On a completely different note, the 78 things that were top of a girl’s Christmas list in the 00’s. So much of this stuff I had or wanted, an iPod mini, Britney Spears perfume, pink and black Etnies, scented gel pens, Girls in Love books, Groovy Chick notebooks, Pringles holders [what happened to those?!] and of course I really did have a robotic dog, I have no idea what happened to that though.

– For my fellow whiskey drinkers I bring you 19 Whiskey Drinks to put on your Winter bucket list. There are some amazing drinks on this list, there is about 2 I wouldn’t try but the rest I intend one making my way through this festive season, it would be rude not to right.

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