What I Got For Christmas

So, it's been about a month since Christmas so I thought that if I'm going to do this, then I should do it now or never.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas. It was just AJ and myself. It was an awesome day spent at home enjoying ourselves.

So without further ado, here's what I got for Christmas.

From AJ I got this amazing dress. It's polka dotty! He bought it online and it fits really well.

From my parents I got some Clarins products and bag as well as some gorgeous pearl stud earrings (which I forgot to take a picture of, sorry).

From my sister Heather I got this hand cream and shower gel. They smell amazing!

From my other sister Rachael I got a pad of craft paper and this book (which I've just started reading).

From AJ's parents I got this cute calendar.

 And as a combined 30th birthday and Christmas present I also got this from AJ's parents...

 It's the NZ post Hobbit/LOTR stamp book 'A Journey through Middle Earth' and it is seriously amazing. It has maps...

 It has stamps with descriptions...

It is just pure awesome and I'm so happy with it.

So that's what I got for Christmas this year. I'm really happy with everything - even though I'm gushing a lot more about the last prezzie.

What was your favourite present? Let me know in the comments (if you like, no pressure or anything...)

Results of 2016 Goals and 2017 goals

I thought that it was about time that I went over how I went in my goals for the past year. Some went better than others and some I will probably try and improve on this coming year. In fact, all of my goals from last year are going to be the same. Boring, but they are things I need to improve on.

1 - Get into a decent exercise routine. I did ok with this one up until about August which is when I started to pick up more work. I found I was too tired to exercise once I got home and ran out of time in the mornings. So a bit of a fail on that one. This coming year I'm going to try and work out a routine that I can do as well as work.

2 - Contribute financially. This is one that I actually had a bit of success on - especially in the latter third of the year. I signed up to Education Personnel who gave me a lot more relief work. It was mainly at low decile schools but I loved it. I'm looking forward to working with them again this coming year. My goal is to work on average 3 days a week (start and ends of terms tend to be a bit slower).

3 - Keep house clean and tidy. Um. No. This did not happen. I had plans. But they didn't eventuate. I do think I'm a bit better at putting things away but the house is desperate for a good clean. That's going to be my main goal for this year. Try and get this house in order. Including decluttering and deep cleaning things. I have school holidays that I can do things and I need to stop being lazy and actually do them.

4 - Get my garden under control. For most of 2016 this was a fail. Then when I decided to plant strawberries, tomatoes and peppers I cleared the vege boxes. And then let them get overgrown again. Goal for this year is to keep the areas that we have actually put edging down and the planter boxes under control.

5 - Improve blog. I'm not it's improved as such - but I did post a lot more often. Especially when I was keeping up with the photo challenge. Goal for this year is to post on average twice a week and to comment on other people's blogs. I read so many - the least I can do is comment :)

So there are my goals and how they went last year. They are going to stay the same for this year but you never know, things may well change. In which case, I'll let you know...

Empties Four

So I thought it was time for another empties post. It's been ages since I last did one...It also has a few products that weren't used up but were starting to smell a bit funky.

Rexona Invisible Dry Black and White

Just a standard deodorant. I tend to go to rexona ones. Did its job. Didn't notice any difference in regards to no white marks.

Health Basics Ruby Bay Sunset Body Wash

Love the smell of this. It says that it's rosehip oil and pohutukawa. It's really nice and moisturising on the skin. I love to use Health Basics body wash and tend to go between this and body shop.

Natio Gentle Skin Toner

This was a nice toner, I'd buy it again. Nice and soothing on the skin.

Bath and Body Works Mango and Mandarin Body Splash

I loved this stuff and wish I could get Bath and Body works products in New Zealand. The smell was amazing and I've had it for a long time as I only used it on special occasions. 

Loreal Paris Skin Perfection Serum

As far as budget friendly serums go - this is the best I've found. I'll keep using it for now. Leaves my skin nice and soft.

Garnier BB Cream in Fair for Oily/Combination Skin

I shouldn't have got this. Mainly because I don't have oily/combination skin anymore. Never agreed with me and started to smell funny so getting rid of it. 

Blue Spa Body Lotion

Standard moisturiser that I got in a gift pack a while ago. Skin feels moisturised after using it but nothing special.

BeIndulged English Rose Fragranced Bath and Shower Gel

This would be nice if you like the smell of roses. I do when it's actually on a rose. Don't tend to like it in products though. But it did its job. 

Clinique High Impact Mascara

This was a nice mascara that separated the lashes nicely. I didn't use it up though coz it started to smell funny.

Clinique Even Better Skin Tone Correcting Moisturiser with SPF 15

This didn't seem to work for me. Didn't tend to leave my face feeling very moisturised. Liked that it had SPF though. Also, didn't seem to correct my skin tone noticeably. 

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion for Dry/Very Dry Skin

I seriously loved this stuff. It was so nice on my skin. Sunk in so well and left my skin moisturised all day. Quite expensive though which is why I haven't repurchased.

Happy New Year - what's happening on Rosey's Planet this coming year...

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had an amazing festive season! It was our first Christmas just AJ and myself and we had a great day :) Now that AJ's back to work and I've still got a few weeks before any potential relief work I thought I'd get back blogging. Because it's fun 😁

Now, the latter part of 2016 I didn't post nearly as much as I'd originally intended - mainly because I was getting a lot of work (signing up for an agency really works). Therefore I didn't have the extra time to write my blog posts. Which is annoying because I have so many post ideas buzzing around in my head! I've now written them all down so I don't forget them and will write as many as I can in advance and schedule them.

There will be no guaranteed number of posts per week. I'd rather not have the pressure. So some weeks there might be 5 posts and other weeks there'll be 0. It all depends on how things go.

I'm going to try and keep my days themed as the following:

• Monday - Domestic Day. If I post this day it'll include things like recipes, garden updates, crafting, and things like that. 
• Tuesday - Travel Tuesday. This is the day dedicated to posts about my past travels. I've been lucky enough to travel to quite a few places and I'd love to share some of our photos and experiences from these places with you. They will be in no particular order - only that I'll post each trips ones together. For example - I'm still working through the posts from our 5 week European holiday that we took back in 2014.
• Wednesday - Random Ramblings. This is the day where I post things that don't fit in any of my other themes. For example I would post hauls and reviews here. It's a day for all the random things essentially. If I go to a concert or show that was particularly cool (or bad) then I'll post about it on this day. 
• Thursday - Thursday Thoughts. This is the day where I'll express my opinion on particular things. It may contain political things, religious things, etc. I try not to be controversial but this would be the day that I post things that could potentially be construed as such.
• Friday - Geeky Goodness. This is the day for all things geeky. There will be board game reviews, posts on geeky swag, geeky clothing etc. Basically, if it's geeky - it'll be posted about on a Friday.
• Weekends - Weekends are not put aside for any particular theme. They will be for anything. I don't foresee there being many posts on weekends but their there if I need them.

So, those are my plans for 2017 on the blog. I hope you enjoy my future posts where my ultimate goal is for an average of 2 posts a week. Have a fantastic year guys!