2013; A quick recap and some (probably unrealistic) hopes for 2014!

Hiya Peeps!

So as 2013 draws to a close, I thought what better way to celebrate my final post of the year than recapping everything that's happened in my life. For the most part it's been a pretty good year and I've had amazing people around me, but 2013 hasn't been all fabulous. Despite that, I've learned a hell of a lot, hung out with some amazing people and I've smiled almost all the way through. So without further ado, here's what happened to me in 2013... (And I'm sorry it's not in chronological order, I'm painfully lazy!).

Possibly the biggest and most talked about thing for me this year was when I graduated University back in July. I know it was 6 months ago now, and I haven't really stopped going on about it, but I actually still can't believe it happened. I've blogged about it a lot and you can check that out here, here & here and if you want to see the exact moment I 'officially' became a graduate, skip to 0.55 of this video and listen to my family scream at me... I won't talk too much about it because I've already said way too much, but I had the most amazing time with some really incredible people who I can't thank enough. I learned so much about my future, but also about myself as a person, so good job Cardiff, you treated me well.

After I finished studying, I was also lucky enough to land myself my first real bit of work experience with Social and Mobile Media agency, Coup Media. It's also something I've spoken about already on my blog and you can read more about it here, but like being at University, I learned so much while I was with them, and it's only made my passion for Social Media grow, so cheers guys!

2013 was also the year that I started to take blogging seriously. Now I know what you're all thinking... 'Amy, you haven't taken it that seriously, you haven't posted in about a month' and you're right. Towards the end of the year I have been slacking, but I promise you, 2014 is our year! I hit 2000 views which is absolutely huge for me, so thank you to everyone who's read previous posts or is reading now. Whether you've read all of my waffle from the beginning or whether this is your first time on my blog, thank you! And while we're on the Social Media topic, I also wrote my 20,000th tweet in 2013. A lot of you will say that this is because I don't have a life, but I think it's just because I have a lot to say, and I really like the internet. Tyler Oakley also followed and then unfollowed me this year, but I'm keeping this in because I'm so sad that it's no longer a reality.

For me, this year was a big year for music. I'm not necessarily talking about artists that have broken through into the top 100 or that have kick-started their careers, but I'm talking about music that I have discovered this year, and artists that I've been lucky enough to see live. Artists like SoMo, Kid Ink, Jay Loftus and Lewis Mokler have had my heart this year when it comes to discovering new talent. I also happen to have a love affair with Little Mix, Union J and Wiz Khalifa this year. I've been lucky enough to see some of my favourite artists this year including Hoodie Allen, Tyler Hilton, Bruno Mars, Ellie Goulding and Mcfly, among others! Music has spoken to me a lot in 2013 and pulled me through so much. I'm starting to realise that I think I love music more than people.

2013 is also the year of McBusted, and I honestly couldn't be more excited about it. I'm going to be seeing them in 2014 with my sister, and I'm super stoked. I've been wanting McFly and Busted to collab again for a really long time so I can't wait to be a part of it. It's also the year of the first McBaby and that's another thing that is super amazing. Being part of a fandom for such a long time, you really feel it when things like this happen and I just know he or she is going to be the coolest and most spoiled kid of all time!

Oh and for those of you who know, you'll now how hard the next two things were for me. Lent came around and I really wanted to have a good stab at it this year. I always give up things that I can't stick to, but this year I was going to push myself. I drink A LOT of Diet Coke and my Uni friends thought contracting me to give it up for 40 days would be a laugh. I knew it would be the hardest thing ever, but I decided to give it a whirl... And I actually stuck to it. And on the last day of Lent, I bought a crate of 30 cans of the gorgeous, fizzy, sugar free goodness and haven't looked back since. I also battled with my weight a lot throughout 2013. My anxiety got really bad, and in turn I think I got really lazy and just put on a lot of weight. I also think being in the University environment doesn't help when everyone around you can eat whatever they want and it goes to your thighs, rather than theirs. However, I have also lost a lot of weight this year. So far I've lost about 2 stone and in 2014, I hope to lose more. I've been at a bit of a standstill for a while so am looking for a bit of extra inspiration to push my weightloss in the new year!

Looking ahead to 2014, I have a lot of dreams and things I want to achieve. All of this year, and most of my life I've talked about my love affair with the USA. I am 100% certain I was born on the wrong continent, and this is something I want to work on over the next year and many more to come. I want to spend some time in America, whether that's a two week holiday or a three travelling trip, I'm going to do it. Ideally I want to hit up Florida before the summer, Los Angeles in October and New York for xmas. All probably completely unrealistic, but if I even manage to achieve one of those I'll be a happy little soul. America has had my heart since I was 11 years old, and I can't wait to get back.

I've mentioned it already, but I want to get to my goal weight in 2014. I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh now, but ideally, I want to weight 5lbs less than Harry Styles which I believe is 11stone. My friends know the reason why, but I'm not going into it on the internet. And when I get to that weight I want to maintain it. It's one thing to lose weight, but to stay there is the hard bit, so hopefully I can do it! 

I also hope that 2014 will be my year for luck in Love. Everyone I know is going to be freaking out about this because for the longest time I've been happy being single, and I still am but I guess I'm ready for someone to cuddle and eat Nandos with while watching trashy TV (soooo vommy I know, and I almost hate myself for writing it). I'm not asking for much though, so maybe Harry Styles will see my potential in 2014 and fall madly in love with me. 

So that's it. Thank you so much if you've lasted until the end of this post and thank you all for sticking by me this year. 2013 has been a pretty good one, but I'm almost certain that next year is going to be even better. 2014 is MY year. All of my Social Media links are in the side bar so come chat to me, I'm nice enough. Tweet me or tell me in the comments, what are your plans for 2014? 

You can check out my 2013 in photos on my Instagram or here!

Thanks again for stopping by,

Take care, Stay Beautiful and Dream Big (especially in 2014!)

All the love in the world, 

@amyjcollins

August Favourites - Oopsie, it's the middle of September!

Hiya Peeps! 

Happy Sunday! I'm back with another post, finally! I know it's a little late but I'm going with my August favourites.

I've actually had quite a few favourites last month but I'm still loving a lot of stuff from July. I apologise in advance for the poor images. I'm taking the photos at the moment on my iPhone and they're not brilliantly edited or great quality, but hey ho!

Maybelline Baby Lips

I'm sure that these have been released in the US for quite a long time but they came to the UK last month. I was sooo excited to try them because there was so much hype around them and they definitely didn't disappoint. I have them in two colours (Peach Kiss and Cherry Me) and I really like them both. The red colour is super pigmented for a lip balm so you can really see it on my lips. I love the Peach shade for when I'm going for a more natural look or if I'm wearing really simple make-up. I would definitely recommend these for younger girls who are experimenting with make-up as they're a cheap alternative to a lipstick and aren't as heavy.

Kate Moss Rimmel Lipsticks

 
Like I said in my July favourites, I've never been a real wearer of lipstick. I've been experimenting more and recently tried the Kate Moss range from Rimmel. I bought one colour from each of her ranges and actually wear them both an awful lot. I have shade 1 from the Lasting Finish range which is a gorgeous bright red colour. This is something I NEVER thought I'd wear, but I really love it. It works so well for evening make-up, but I really like wearing it in the day for a burst of colour when I've gone for really simple make-up. The second I have is from the matte collection is called Soft Pink (no 16?) and is a great colour for everyday wear. A definite must have in your collection.

Natural Collection Blush -Dusky Pink

I tried this blush just by chance and was so impressed because it was super cheap! It was only like £1.99 and it's super pigmented. This shade is so great for everyday wear and gives my cheeks the very slight, pink blush that I need to look healthy.

Wearing My Hair Tied Up
 I know this really won't apply to any of you, and this isn't really something you can try off the back off my recommendation, but all throughout August, I loved wearing my hair up. During some parts of the month it was just sooo hot and virtually impossible to wear my hair down and I eventually really started liking the way my hair looked when it was up. But yeah, just wanted to put this in. It's not really relevant to you guys but yeah haha.

Hoodie Allen
 
All through August I was completely obsessed by this man. For those of you who don't know who Hoodie is, he's an American rapper. If you're not familiar with his music, you should definitely check his music out. All of his EP's are available for free download on his website so go get them! I was lucky enough to see him in London at the start of September and it's been one of my favourite shows to date. Yeah, just go check him out.

Slimming World
Now, as some of you will know from previous posts of mine, I've been trying to lose some of the many extra pounds I've got hanging around. I decided to give Slimming World a go with my nan (woooo!) and I'm actually really impressed with the results. I've actually lost a stone and 4lbs now, and I know I've still got a long way to go, but I'm happy with how it's going so far. The diet itself doesn't make sense and I still don't really understand how it actually works, but it does! I'm really trying to keep it up because I'm finally starting to see results. If you're looking for a way of losing a bit of weight, I really would recommend Slimming World. It's a lot easier than it looks and it really does work.

Peach Sprite

 This is more of just a side note really as I've only actually had this once during August. I met up with my friend Ben (@Ben_Tarrant) in London and we went for lunch at Five Guys. If you haven't been there and you like burgers, just go. You won't regret it. But yeah, in there they have these immense drinks machines where you can basically put any flavour into any soft drink and it's craaaazy! I went with peach Sprite and it was b-e-a-utiful. I know that it's not something that's readily available in the UK, but what about in the US or the other countries that you're reading from. If you have peach flavoured Sprite in your country, please let me know!

But that's pretty much it. There are quite a few things that I've already fallen in love with in the month of September, so you have next month's favourites to look forward to, and they're coming a lot sooner than this one did.

For next week, I kind of want to sign my post over to you guys. If you've got anything that you'd like me to talk about please let me know in the comments below or drop me a tweet @amyjcollins and I'll do my best to give it a try! I also really want to do a review week real soon where people ask me to review products / things and I give my honest opinion on a different thing each day. Again, let me know if you have any ideas.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by.
Take care, stay beautiful and dream big!
All the love in the world,
amyjcollins
xox