Category: Life

Unbelievable PLL book #4 by Sara Shepard Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ 1 Comment

Wow. This one had A LOT going on. I mean I knew A was going to be revealed in this one but it took a long time for us to get there. Which is fine because we love suspense and drama but still. Let’s get into this.

I don’t even really know where to begin. I think we’ll go with Aria first.

So where we left her, Ezra had been hauled off to jail because A had told Sean what was going on between them. But the police let him go because Aria wasn’t going to press charges. Boring.

Thankfully though Ezra says he is moving away so hopefully he stays away and doesn’t come back after all that drama. We don’t need him and neither does Aria. So please Ezra stay away.

Now that Ezra is gone though Aria has nowhere to stay so she ends up moving in with Meredith and Byron. Gross. Meredith’s apartment is super weird and they try to make her out as super quirky but I hate it. Though it seems this probably isn’t the last we have seen of Meredith and Byron because they reveal at the end of the book that Meredith is actually pregnant. Ugh. Was not expecting that but could do without it.

Also, Aria takes an art class at Hollis where she is partnered with Jenna Cavanaugh. Surprise. This was done in the TV show except on TV, nothing really came of this. Like Jenna got a bit personal with Aria but then that was it.

In the books, we find out that Jenna knew how Aria was despite her lying about her identity. And Jenna also tells Aria that she knew about what the girls did. She said that she had planned this with Alison, to begin with, and that she wanted to get rid of Toby. She said Alison would understand because she had sibling issues too – I think this is one of our first hints about the twin thing! Exciting.

So that is wild, I never expected Jenna to know about ‘The Jenna Thing’ but it does kind of make sense why she never questioned when Toby took the blame because he obviously didn’t do it. I just feel bad that Jenna got caught in the middle of the whole thing and was blinded, but I guess she saw that as a small price to pay to get away from her stepbrother. Crazy.

Jenna also mentioned to Aria in passing she was coming back to Rosewood so will we see more of her or is ‘The Jenna Thing’ now closed once and for all? I hope we see more.

I think it’s interesting how the TV show took the villain route with Jenna. I mean it was fun but it kind of ended up in a stupid place with Noel Kahn being beheaded and Jenna wielding a gun lol. I don’t really want that but it would be interesting to see if in the books they do anything else with the character.

Time to move onto Emily, whose storyline was not my favourite this time around.

First of all, her parents do end up sending her to Iowa, but she’s only there for five minutes lol. Emily’s aunt and uncle kick her out because her cousins and her got caught sneaking out, even though her cousins have been doing it for months, they blame Emily. So now Emily has to go back to rosewood but initially she doesn’t want to because she knows her parents don’t want her. So she runs out of her aunt’s house and doesn’t look back.

This does not last long because Emily then sees her parents on the news saying they are worried about her and want her to come home, so Emily hops on a bus to Rosewood.

Also after this whole ordeal, Emily’s parents decide to randomly accept her sexuality? I mean no complaints that’s great but at the same time, it came out of the blue lol. They watched some Dr Phil, read some books and were suddenly so on board it was wild. I thought there would be a little more of a teething period but we will go with it.

Also Maya is going full steam ahead with their relationship which Emily doesn’t seem thrilled about. I mean I understand from her perspective like she just came to terms with her sexuality and so did her family she needs time to adjust so Maya needs to calm down.

Emily isn’t good at explaining that though. Plus Trista – this girl Emily met while she was in Iowa and flirted with – decides to fly out to Rosewood to surprise Emily just for fun. Which I hated lol like okay Emily was interested in Trista and she was so much more easygoing in comparison to Maya and even reminded Emily of Alison but like…I felt it wasn’t needed. But Maya sees Emily and Trista together and is angry and basically breaks up with Emily. It’s very messy.

I honestly don’t know if I want Emily and Maya to be together like I definitely routed for them on the TV show but in the books, Maya seems so much more forward and Emily seems so much more reluctant. So I need them to talk it out. But realistically this is a teen book so it will not get serious at all lol. So we see if Maya comes back to Emily after the whole A thing or if they go their separate ways. Not fussed either way at this point.

Next, we move on to Hanna. She is in hospital after being hit by a car. We remember this. But she was in a coma and she doesn’t remember what happened to her, which means she doesn’t remember who A is. Lucky for Mona but not so lucky for everyone else.

So I am going to talk about what happens in this on the TV show first, Hanna breaks her leg after being hit by the car but aside from that, she’s fine? She also remembers seeing Noel Kahn and so she says he is A but the girls don’t believe her, and then Mona wants to throw a party for Hanna as if she hadn’t just hit her with a car lol.

Hanna doesn’t want the party though and she ends up losing the money her mom was secretly hiding in the lasagne box. This is funny because none of that money struggle business exists in the book because everyone is rich. But yeah that’s how things play out on TV. There’s also Sean/Lucas drama but it’s not important.

In the books, Mona still wants to throw a party for Hanna but Hanna actually wants to have the party and she’s excited that she and Mona were friends again. She remembers them not getting along before the accident, but she doesn’t remember what Mona did to her at her party.

This also means Hanna doesn’t remember making out with Lucas. And Lucas has been a sweetheart and has been visiting her the whole time she’s been in hospital, reading to her from fashion magazines and fetching her coffee. But Hanna doesn’t know why he’s being so nice.

Lucas and her end up making out again later when Hanna is out of hospital and she still doesn’t know what went down between them but she can’t deny she has feelings for him. But she doesn’t want to be with him because Mona sees him as a loser and would rather have Mona as a friend than Lucas as a boyfriend. Poor guy.

I think maybe Lucas and Hanna will get together, now that Mona is gone. But at the same time, Hanna wants to be the most popular girl in school so I don’t know if Lucas fits into that. But I’m rooting for them, they never actually got together on the TV show because of Caleb, but I don’t think Caleb is showing up anytime soon – or if he even exists in the books lol.

Also at the end of the book, Hanna’s mom tells her she took a job in Singapore so she’s leaving and Hanna’s dad says he will move to Rosewood with Kate and Isobel. This means we will probably be seeing more of them because I doubt Hanna moves to Maryland. I am not sure what to think about this, Kate was on the TV show for like five minutes – she transferred to Rosewood for like two episodes and then we never heard from her again. So I wonder if she will be a bigger part in the book or if she gets phased out. Or maybe Hanna goes to boarding school but that seems unlikely.

Now we move to Spencer, as Hanna does eventually remember who A is but at the time Spencer and Mona are on their way to the police station because Spencer thinks Melissa murdered Alison and wants to turn her in.

This scene plays out on the TV show, but a season after Hanna’s accident and at a different masquerade ball. I gotta say, the A reveal was so much more dramatic on TV like the A lair is amazing and it just shows how obsessed Mona was with the girls. There is no secret lair in the book, which I’m sad about but at the same time, I don’t think Mona was really putting in as much effort in the books lol.

Before we get to the Spencer/Mona scene in the books, Spencer goes for her Golden Orchid interview and she wins but I think she might tell them she took Melissa’s essay? So we see what the fallout from that is. She also has been getting hints from A that Melissa killed Alison. Plus Melissa was acting a bit sus this book anyway, so there’s that.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much about Melissa being sus in the books, because in the TV show, Melissa is ALWAYS looking sus and she just always happens to be around when things go down but ultimately she doesn’t have much to do with anything. And it’s so disappointing that she’s constantly used as a red herring, I want her to actually be a villain. But I don’t think I’ll get that.

Anyway yes, so Spencer and Mona are driving to the police station, but Spencer gets a text from the girls telling her Mona is A, Mona figures out Spencer knows and then they are speeding away from the police station to somewhere else.

Mona reveals she found Ali’s diary with all the girls’ secrets in it and so she decided to become A and blackmail them. She liked the idea that she could control people this way, she had also been at the scene of ‘The Jenna Thing’ and had scars to prove it. She said she and Jenna were friends before, and she couldn’t believe Jenna wouldn’t believe her when she said Alison was the one who did it. So she didn’t know Jenna had spoken to Ali beforehand.

Mona also says originally she was trying to pin Alison’s murder on Spencer. She had overheard them fighting the night Alison died and it was so easy to convince Spencer’s friends she did it. She even explained how Aria had told Wilden she thought Spencer could have done it when they were in the hospital after Hanna’s accident. Yikes.

So Spencer was set up to take the blame but then as Spencer and Mona were planning Hanna’s party together they bonded by flashing some strangers at the country club lol – so fun and random but definitely a thing that is casual to mention in the early 2000s whereas now that’s definitely not a thing that would ever happen.

After the bonding moment, Mona decided that she liked Spencer and that she wanted Spencer to join the A team so they could both live their best lives by controlling the others. So Mona decided to start hinting the Spencer that Melissa was the one who killed Alison, this would mean Spencer would be free from her sister’s shadow and she could thrive. Mona had also suggested they pin A on someone Spencer hated like Andrew and then they could continue to manipulate and threaten anyone that stood in their way.

All in all, a great offer but Spencer decides not to take it and she ends up fighting with Mona and Mona ends up falling off the edge of a cliff into a quarry where she breaks her neck and is killed. I’m sad that she is gone now because she was fun to have around on the TV show, I feel like she was underused on the TV show but she was great.

I mean realistically if she had survived in the books she would have definitely been sent away and never seen again, so I guess it’s good that she died, like a permanent end so she ain’t coming back.

But yeah so that’s where our Mona saga ends. The girls tell the police everything and Hanna gives in Mona’s second phone to the police, but not before deleting the texts Mona sent to her because they were still friends. Even if Mona hit Hanna with her car…like Hanna definitely should have more trauma from all of this but I know she’ll probably be fine because she was on the TV show.

Also, Mona reveals in Alison’s diary she was off to meet Ian the night she died so everyone assumes that Ian killed Alison and at the end of the book the girls go to his trial where he pleads ‘not guilty’ but it obviously isn’t looking good for him. Even when Melissa tells the police they were together that night but Ian disappeared for a while and came back. So we’ll see what comes of that.

But overall, a thrilling read. I am enjoying these and I am excited to see what happens next as Mona is gone. When will the second A emerge and will we learn more about the twin thing? There have been a few hints in this book about it already and Alison acting a bit weird so I am wondering if we will get more of that. I’m not really sure what will be next for our girls, but it’s not going to be easy to go back to their lives after all the press attention they are getting.

I also wonder how long it will take for new A to make an appearance…will the girls get some A free time to rebuild their lives or will it be like A never left? I guess it’s time to get reading to find out!

Happy Quarantined Birthday to Me!

~ Courtney Shek ~ 1 Comment
Me: Pre-COVID

My birthday was on Wednesday and I had one unexpected birthday present: COVID. Yay.

So I spent my birthday self-isolating and watching Gossip Girl. So far 25 is looking so glam lol.

Honestly kind of annoyed at myself for getting COVID, I thought I was doing my best to avoid it but I guess it was only a matter of time. I still take pride in the fact I managed to avoid it this long and am also grateful that I was able to go on holiday and do all the fun things I have so far this year without being ill.

The only thing I am going to miss is a drag show that is coming up next week which is fine, after that there are no events for a bit so I can take my time and rest. I’ve been doing a lot this year so far and I think my body was just like “time to rest” so here we are.

My symptoms haven’t been too bad which is also good, part of the fear of getting COVID was not knowing how it was going to affect me. Thankfully nothing too crazy, a scratchy throat, blocked nose…the first day I did have chills but they have gone away.

I am sure I will be fine in a few days, I just need to be patient. That being said I find myself being restless being sick this time around. I was sick for a week last year and I think I was grateful for all the time to be sitting around and doing nothing but this time is different haha.

But I know my body is not up to doing anything too taxing, even now trying to write this blog post it’s challenging. So I’m going to take it easy and while I’ll be sad that I won’t be immediately heading back into my everyday activities I want to take my time with healing so I don’t end up ill again anytime soon.

Plus, the idea of going back to normal and rushing back into crowds of people doesn’t sound appealing to me. And I will definitely be keeping the mask on when I go places. Funnily enough, the first time I really went anywhere without a mask was last weekend, and now I have COVID so…if that’s not an incentive to wear a mask I don’t know what is.

But yeah, that’s where we are for now. On the bright side, I can get fresh air from my back garden and enjoy some time binge-watching TV and playing games. Hopefully, by next week the tests start coming in negative but we’ll see.

Midyear Goals Check In for 2022

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

We are halfway through 2022 and I just had to do my midyear evaluation at work and so I thought this would also be a good idea to do a midyear check on my personal goals for this year.

Not going to lie, midyear and end-of-year evaluations at work are not the most exciting things but it’s also interesting to look back to see how much you accomplish in the year, professional or otherwise. So we are going to take a look and see what progress or lack thereof I have made on the goals I have set myself this year.

Learn to Drive

This one is not going well and it’s not for lack of trying lol. So I looked for a driving instructor in February and managed to get on a waiting list for April because everyone has a backlog due to the pandemic so we waited until April…I had my first lesson with this guy and I felt good about it and we had scheduled another lesson and then…for personal reasons my instructor said he couldn’t continue with our lessons. Ouch.

It’s annoying but it happens. And then in May I looked for another instructor and I didn’t have much luck. Some guy has said he might take me on in June/July but it is June now and I haven’t heard back yet so I’m still waiting.

So as you can see there hasn’t been any movement on this and it’s so frustrating. When I have been trying to find an instructor I have reached out to four/five at a time hoping that someone will have a spot for me and most people don’t.

At this point, I feel like I need to start taking lessons in a different town or something just to give me access to a different range of instructors or something because I’m not really sure what else to do. And it’s really bothering me especially since two of my friends have learnt to drive recently so I’m literally the only one who isn’t. It feels like I’m 17 again and everyone is learning to drive except me…it’s wild.

But I have hope I’ll eventually find an instructor who will take me…otherwise I’ll need to win the lottery and hire a driver lol.

Blog More

This is a goal I’ve been having some success with! Yay! I have been doing my monthly reading recaps which adds some content to the blog which is nice. I have also done some posts on TV shows and travel.

I’m going to say this one is always a hit or miss for me because sometimes I have things to write about and sometimes I don’t. But I’m happy that I have found some things to post about this year compared to other years when I’ve only made one or two posts.

Maybe I will do some blogging around my house renovations though not sure how often those posts would be…also I guess if I am feeling that I need to put my thoughts out there on something it can be in blog form instead of video form sometimes. We’ll go with the flow, but like I said I’m just glad I’m posting something haha.

Read 22 Books

A goal I have been thriving in, obviously part of doing reading recaps on my blog means I have to have been reading. I am currently reading my 15th book out of 22 so this goal will be reached in the next couple of months. I have also started reading the Pretty Little Liar books and so far I’ve read the first two but it’s definitely a series I am eager to get through so I imagine I’ll be finished pretty quickly.

Thankfully if I can do nothing else, I can read haha.

Learn a Language

So this has been going okay, I’ve just been learning Korean through Duolingo and I have a streak of 156 currently. In terms of Duolingo I would say I’m thriving but I definitely couldn’t talk to you in Korean haha.

My boyfriend abandoned Korean after the first couple of lessons because it was too difficult and so he hasn’t really been on the journey with me but that’s fine. I’ve actually come to enjoy my 10/15 mins of Korean every day, it’s a nice hobby to have.

I’m hoping to finish the Korean modules there and revisit the Korean textbook I bought at uni and see where that takes me. I don’t think I’ll be fluent or anything but it’s nice to have a hobby where you’re learning something.

Spend more time with friends and family

I have been doing good at this I think. Well on the friend front I think it’s going well considering we recently just went on a holiday together haha. Still, aside from that I think we’ve been good at keeping in touch and hanging out. Plus Jasmine and her partner have moved back to NI so I think that will encourage us to hang out more – mainly because before there was just me and Lauren in NI and we wouldn’t really hang out one to one so it’s nice to have a third person to see haha.

And then in terms of my family, I think this is going okay but could still be better. I did spend a weekend with my mum at a spa for her Christmas present, and I’ve been hanging out with my brother and my dad on occasion but I could probably make the effort to visit more. It’s just something I have to actively try to do.

Make progress on the house

This one is mainly up to my boyfriend and not me. And I say this because he is doing all the work and I am not lol. I mean I definitely want to try to help where I can but sometimes it’s best if he just tackles it on his own.

In January we bought a new kitchen which was exciting, it arrived a couple of weeks ago and sits in a mountain of boxes in the living room lol. We still need to pick out a few things for the kitchen and also block out time where we can tear out the old kitchen to put the new one in.

My boyfriend has started tiling the ensuite which is good, we started the ensuite stuff last year but it turned out to be more work than expected – I definitely feel like I could make my own blog post about that lol.

And we also need someone to repair a hole in our roof as birds have been getting into the attic. Hopefully, someone is coming out in July…

So yeah lots going on, it’s definitely a project that’s taking a long time and it can be frustrating and slow at times but I’m sure the final product will be amazing and I’m excited to share it. But for right now I’d appreciate it if we didn’t have visitors until we get it sorted haha.

Exercise more consistently

This one is a hit or miss haha. Sometimes I exercise a lot in a week, sometimes I just about make it to pole and hoop and no more. It’s the kind of thing that I fit in when I can but sometimes life just gets in the way.

My boyfriend and I did sign up for the gym two months ago but I have only been a handful of times – I’ve always had things come up haha and my boyfriend is taking a break from the gym to work on the house. So I think the gym membership is going to go on hold for a while.

I know I could still go to the gym without my boyfriend but I don’t know if I would go enough to justify the cost. I also want to do more pole things at home but have not put my pole up in a while, I think if I can finally do that I might actually use it…though that hasn’t worked in the past lol.

So yeah something still to work on but that’s fine. Progress is not a straight line and all that.

And that is where I am with my goals for 2022! Honestly, for the most part, I am happy with the progress I am making on them. Obviously, the driving one is the big one that doesn’t have much progress but hopefully, I can get an instructor for the second half of the year.

I won’t be mad if I haven’t passed my test by the end of the year but at this rate, any progress would be nice. And with everything else, I’ll keep working on it, one step at a time.

Fun Things to do in Lisbon!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

A few weeks ago my friends and I went on a trip to Lisbon and I thought I would share some fun things that we did while we were there! I am by no means a travel blogger, but after being on my first trip out of the country since COVID, I could definitely consider it, if I had the time and the money lol.

Boat Tours

On our first full day in Lisbon, we decided to take a boat tour. It was with Rent a Boat and my friend Jasmine had booked it for us. We weren’t really sure what to expect but it turned out to be an instant crowd-pleaser for all of us.

When we were getting onto the boat we saw a lot of people choosing to sit in the designated seating area at the back of the boat, but when the tour guide said we could sit at the front we decided to head up there immediately. And honestly, if you are going to pay for a boat tour why wouldn’t you sit at the very front? This was great because there was enough room for all four of us and also it gave us some privacy away from the other people on the tour so it was like we were on our own private boat tour.

The tour itself was really chill, and there was music playing and the tour guide offered us some ‘green wine’, which we had never heard of but we were instant fans. To quote the tour guide when he offered us the wine “you are Irish, I don’t even have to ask”. The only thing he was asking was “do you want more?”. Now I don’t know if it was because we were special or if the tour guide was offering everyone wine a second (and third/fourth) time but I will not complain.

In terms of a guided tour though, we did not get much which was fine by us because we just enjoyed being on the water in the sunshine and enjoying the views. Our tour guide did come down and give us some ideas of what to do while we were in Lisbon as we hadn’t planned much for the trip yet. And he was really friendly and enjoyable, I think if we had been with the rest of the main group we might have gotten more of a guided tour.

And that was our first boat tour of the trip! Yep, we went on another one lol. That night after the tour, we all kept talking about how much we enjoyed it and so we decided to also book a nighttime tour. We did look at sunset ones but they are hella pricey because that is an obvious peak time.

So the next night we once again arrived at Belem marina for our second boat trip. This one was with Get Your Guide – we did originally want to book with Rent a Boat again, but they were not available. Though I think this was actually a good thing because we had a different experience with this company.

We got lucky with our night tour that we were actually the only ones on the boat, there was supposed to be a second group joining but they didn’t show. So it really was a private boat tour this time.

Like before, we opted to sit in the front, because again you gotta have good views. That being said, at night the tour was much colder, thankfully though the company provided blankets for us which kept us warm during the trip. Also because we were the only ones on the boat we got more of a guided tour, so the tour guide was able to tell us about all the attractions we could see along the river banks. I appreciated this because we didn’t get that the first time so it was nice to learn a bit more about what we were seeing. And it wasn’t repetitive which is good.

Unlike the last tour I found this one more chill and relaxing, I guess because it had been a long day and also there’s something about being away from all the noise of the nightlife and sailing along the water. Also in terms of wine, we did get one glass which was included in the package, which was more what we expected from the tour anyway.

And that concludes all our boat tours in Portgual lol. Honestly, I would recommend doing more than one, maybe not in the same trip if that’s not your vibe but they are definitely worth it because it gives you a different view of the city. And also the different times of day were nice because the contrast between both of them was nice to see.

And Portugal offers a lot of different boat tours, we saw plenty of them on the water as we were sailing though I would highly recommend the sailboat ones. We saw a lot of tour boats that were filled with a lot more people and that didn’t seem as enjoyable but might be for you if you prefer hop-on and hop-off kind of tours. There are also tours that include snorkelling and lots of other things so it’s definitely worth checking out!

In terms of pricing, the tours weren’t super expensive either which was nice. Both were around £30 per person and if you book private ones, then the more people you have the less you pay as the price is split between people. So 100% would recommend it to everyone.

Pink Street

I am not sure if this place is for everyone but it’s definitely a pretty photo op during the day. Pink Street is a street in Lisbon that is lined with bars/clubs on both sides and is party central at night.

My friends and I decided to go for drinks after we had been on our daytime boat tour and it was Friday night and packed to the brim with people. Usually not my scene, especially because we have just come out of a pandemic but we decided to be optimistic about it.

We walked up and down the street a couple of times, trying to find a bar with seating which was almost impossible, but we finally found a table outside a bar called Liverpool, named after the football team. Not exactly Portuguese culture but the only place with space and we took advantage.

I’m not going to say it was a glamorous night because in reality, you were sitting in a very crowded area in the heat of the night and the noise of the goings-on around you but we still had a great time. It worked out well we had this table, and there was a waitress who was taking drink orders for the bar so she would come by every so often to take our order. I honestly felt bad for her because she must’ve been getting all kinds of abuse and such throughout the night but we did our best to be polite and non-disruptive. We’re not that kind of people lol.

So we sat and we enjoyed our drinks, enjoyed seeing the parades of bar crawls and hen/stag do’s that passed us by.

Eventually, we did have to use the bathroom and the inside of the Liverpool bar is tiny, definitely wouldn’t like to be crammed in there with a lot of people. And also the female toilets only had one toilet which isn’t great for a bar but thankfully there weren’t many people inside, and so not many people in the bathrooms either.

And then around 3:30 a.m the staff were packing up the tables so it was time for us to move and probably go home because we didn’t realise it had gotten so late so quickly. The drinks were strong and we were enjoying our time so we had no idea it was going by so fast. The bar wasn’t closing at 3:30 though, they were just putting the tables away we could have still gone into the bar as they were open till SIX AM. Yeah, SIX IN THE MORNING. Crazy.

We did not feel like going inside so we decided to find a spot to stand and finish our drinks before heading home. Even at 3:30 in the morning, there were people everywhere. It was crazy, especially when in Northern Ireland clubs close at 2 and everyone is in Mcdonald’s by 3.

And so yeah our Pink Street adventures were pretty tame compared to most going on around us but I’d still say pretty wild for us lol. Like I said I wouldn’t say it was a vibe for everyone and I feel like if we hadn’t gotten sat at a place with a table it would have been a bit miserable. So I’d say it could be hit or miss if you decide to take a trip.

We did walk through the next day while trying to get somewhere and like I said, I think it’s nice for photos but otherwise not worth a trip, unless you’re looking to get smashed.

Timeout Market

I feel like Time Out Market is one of those things that everyone mentions on their list of things to do in Lisbon. It is a big food market located close to Pink Street in the middle of Lisbon.

We decided to take a visit the afternoon after our Pink Street adventures and it was packed to the brim with people. I don’t think it would ever not be busy, to be honest, but it’s definitely a fun vibe. The market is set up in long cafeteria-style tables, and then the outside of the room is lined with various food vendors. So if you are ever undecided in the friend group about what to eat, this is the place because everyone can go to different places, or you can all share little things from various places.

I will say it’s not ideal if you are looking for anything private or intimate as you are sharing a huge table sandwiched between groups of people but it’s nice for lunch or something light.

The waiting lines for each vendor vary greatly as my friends and I scattered to our selected restaurant and came back to the table with our buzzers. Though I’d say waiting in line to order actually takes the longest. Once you get your order in then the food is prepared quite quickly.

Needless to say the food was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. Lauren and Jasmine even went to get dessert from one of the vendors.

So yeah a bright and fun place to go if you aren’t sure where to eat. I also think that if you enjoy the food from a vendor there that they have full restaurants you can go to if you want more of the food so definitely worth checking out. Though I’d say if you aren’t a fan of the crowds to not stay longer than needed, I found it quite draining to be there for a long time. But that could’ve been the late-night out before, who knows?

Electric Scooters

We saw so many people zooming about on electric scooters while we were away and we decided to take them for a spin ourselves after Time Out Market. To use them you just need to download an app corresponding to the branding on the scooter, scan the QR code, and off you go! There is no shortage of scooters or electric bikes in the centre of Lisbon, we saw so many of them around and it’s such a handy mode of transportation.

Something to note about the scooters though is they are heavy. Like heavier than your average Razor scooter as a kid and definitely more painful to the ankles. So basically, doing a lot of pedalling on them is a lot of work, as I soon found out because it took me a while to get to grips with the scooters. Like you’d think you can just step on and go but no lol.

You basically pedal a little bit and get your balance and then SLOWLY press on the accelerator until you feel comfortable to zoom off. Unfortunately for me, the balance did not come quickly lol we first took the scooters out in a busy area and trying to navigate through people and also get your balance was not the easiest.

So, later on, we were in a quieter area and took out some scooters again where I got to practice my balance and it was much easier to figure out when you weren’t worried about hitting anything or anyone. Plus, the scooters can get up to some speeds so you really need to spend time adjusting and figuring out what works for you.

Once we got the hang of the scooters they were super fun. We wanted to use them at every opportunity, especially because we were along the river and it was a long straight path towards where we were staying. It was so fun zooming down the street at night with the girls. Definitely, something we’ll remember for a long time.

So if you want something fun and easy to try out, get some scooters! I will now be sad if I go elsewhere on holiday and they don’t have scooters.

Sintra

Sintra is not actually in Lisbon as it’s a separate town but I wanted to include this in the post anway because this is something the girls and I did.

Sintra is a town about an hour by train from Lisbon, and it contains four castles that you can visit and is perfect for sightseeing and pictures…unless you go in the rain which we ended up doing. So you go on holiday expecting sunshine and warmth and then the next thing you know it’s cold and rainy. Not fun, but something you can handle especially if you’re from Northern Ireland.

What it looked like waiting to go inside to view the palace interior

Even though the weather wasn’t great it was still a good day. We went to the Pena Palace and Moorish Castle. First was Pena Palace as it was at the highest up the mountain. It definitely would have been better if it was sunny, as the views from the palace were obscured by the mist, but it did clear up a bit by the time we had finished the palace interiors and had some lunch at the cafeteria.

What it looked like after we had been inside and the weather had cleared a little

I am thankful the weather cleared up a bit so we had some views, it would have been disappointing to continue to see nothing from such a great vantage point. But still would recommend a clear day to visit. It was also very busy waiting to get into the palace, we were waiting for an hour in line, I think if it was sunny it wouldn’t have been bad but I assume everyone was wanting to get inside to escape the rain.

The rain wasn’t actually too bad, it was a light mist at most but I think the altitude and wind made it a lot worse. So if you do see rain in the forecast, bring a rain jacket!

After Pena Palace we made it to Moorish Castle, again there would have been great views if the weather hadn’t taken a turn again. Moorish Castle was stunning and while climbing up all the stairs was a journey it was one I’m glad we took, even if we couldn’t see anything from the top I am proud we made it all the way to the top. Plus the views that we could see were stunning.

I would love the opportunity to go back with better weather to see the full thing and also explore the gardens of Pena Palace, as we decided to skip those due to the weather.

So those are all the things I would recommend doing in Lisbon! There were a couple other things the girls and I did like go to a flea market and also the beach but I feel like those you can kind of do anywhere. And in terms of where to eat and restaurants, my friends and I basically just walked along wherever we were until we found a menu with a vegetarian option for my friend Lauren and also something everyone else could eat. Unfortunately for us, Portugal is seafood heaven and none of us actually eat seafood lol.

But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and if you are interested in seeing more of our Lisbon adventures I did manage to vlog a little of each day so you can check that out below!

Now for me, it’s time to return to regular life and start planning my next holiday…

The All Ireland Pole Dance Championships

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Last weekend I got the chance to get dressed up fancy and attend the All Irelands. I’ve attended the competition a couple of years ago and I am always blown away by the talent that is shown there. As someone who has done pole for 4 years I can appreciate the work that goes into it and even just the courage to perform on stage in front of everyone.

It was a good night and it was fun to get dressed up for an event that wasn’t a wedding. I have always loved the idea of being able to dress in black-tie attire for various events – my dream life is one pictured in the likes of Gossip Girl where you have an event to attend every week and also one packed with all the drama.

On the other hand, I am also glad my life is a bit boring at times because all the events and drama can be exhausting…but still it’s nice to dream.

I don’t know when the next time I will get dressed up like this will be, probably my friend Jasmine’s wedding next year so I thought I would enjoy this moment a bit longer by posting it all over my social media lol. And even so special it makes my blog lol so enjoy!

QuirkyWeddings Fair with Jasmine & Lauren! | 20th March 2022

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday I went with my friends Jasmine and Lauren to a wedding fair!

Jasmine is getting married next year and so we went to check out some ideas for her wedding, and not gonna lie I did get some ideas for my own. Not that I’ll be married anytime soon haha.

It was a really fun day! I love looking at wedding things because it’s always so beautiful.

Plus I am super excited to see what Jasmine’s wedding will be like, and I feel honoured that she has chosen me to be a part of it as a bridesmaid.

I probably won’t make much more wedding content but this was a fun day and I wanted to document. Obviously it’s not my wedding so I won’t be going overboard with vlogging and stuff but some things here and there are nice to look back on.

As for my own wedding, I’ll probably document a lot but maybe not post as much? Or I’ll post all the time lol who knows? In the meantime I’ll just enjoy being a part of other peoples weddings. Being a guest is a lot more fun and less stressful.

My 2022 Goals

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t had new year’s resolutions or goals in a long time, but at the start of this year, I was feeling uncharacteristically optimistic and have set some goals for myself. These are things I believe I can achieve this year, but if I don’t achieve them I am not going to be disappointed in myself.

I feel like I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to keep to goals and new year’s resolutions so I never made them but this year I am going to try to take things at my own pace, I know not everything will come magically overnight. If I don’t complete these it won’t be the end of the world, but I’m hoping if I even make a little progress on them I will be happy.

Learn to Drive

This is something I have been saying for years lol but it’s time to finally do it. I passed my theory test in 2020 and it is going to expire in February so we need to take that again. I only started lessons last year due to the pandemic, and even then I didn’t do very many as my instructor retired.

So I am on the hunt for a new driving instructor, last year when I was looking for one a lot of them were booked up which is annoying. But people are turning 17 every day and need instructors so I think I just need to put myself on some waiting lists and see what happens.

In the last driving lesson I had, I was very anxious so it will take a while for me to build confidence again with driving but I hope that if I find the right instructor then things will go well for me.

Blog More

I think this is always on my mind, but I have to be realistic about this. I already journal, memory plan and tweet, Instagram etc. I document a lot of things in a lot of places so I can’t expect to always be posting here too. I just don’t have time.

So I think if I can try to make at least one blog post a month that would be something. I think over the years I have put pressure on myself for what kind of posts I would post here but when I first started blogging it was literally on Bebo and I was 11 years old lol. I just need to not overthink it.

Read 22 books

I had to include this here, I always set myself a Goodreads reading goal and I’ve always completed them. So at least I know this is one that’s easily done.

Why 22 books? Because it’s 2022 lol – that and also I haven’t been reading as many books since the pandemic as I used to always read on public transport and I don’t travel as much. But the last couple years I always read at least 20 so this is an achievable goal.

Learn a Language

This one was my boyfriend’s idea. He wanted to learn a language this year because he thought it would be good. So we signed up for Duolingo.

Originally we wanted to learn something together and I thought Korean would be good because I took a couple of courses in uni and I liked it. I was also trying to talk my boyfriend down from learning Mandarin which was super difficult to learn in comparison.

So we started Korean, though my boyfriend did not last very long lol. He found it hard to grasp the basics, whereas I had previous knowledge of it and so I’ve been sticking with it.

I know Duolingo is not the best source of learning Korean because there’s a lot that goes into learning the language, but I thought it would be a good starting point.

In terms of a language, my boyfriend and I can learn together? I have no idea. But he’s keen on Spanish so I might give it a go and see how it turns out. Though learning two languages is a lot of work! So we’ll see how this one goes. Learning anything in terms of a new language is an achievement in my book.

Spend more time with friends and family

This is something that has been lacking the last few years because of the pandemic, but it’s something I want to do more. I feel like since I moved out of my mum’s house I see her about twice a year and I want to make the effort to visit more often.

I also want to make the effort to see my friends, while most of them live in England some of them still live nearby! So I should not forget about that. I definitely want to make more time for people around me, if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen but I want to at least make the effort.

Make progress on my house

I suppose this is a joint goal for me and my boyfriend. We bought a house last year and it needs a lot of work. Since living here, we have got one room completed lol and we would like to get a lot more done this year.

I am confident we will get it sorted, though these things take time and money. But we already have taken steps to kick start our house renovations this year, we have been looking into new kitchens which is a big thing. Our kitchen and our bathrooms are probably the biggest rooms to renovate, everything else is paint and furniture so hopefully we can get these rooms sorted and everything else will fall into place!

I’m not expecting our whole house to be completed by the end of this year, but even two more rooms than what we have now is something.

Exercise consistently

So this is just a personal thing for me. I started exercising more towards the second half of 2021 and I want to continue that into the new year. I am not going to go on a crazy health kick or anything but a little bit more exercise than what I currently do is good enough for me.

I already do pole and hoop classes, but I also want to work on my cardio because it is terrible lol and also if I can fit in some more strength building workouts or something it will definitely help me improve in my aerial skills. So yeah this one definitely is not a big thing for me, but it’s just something I wanted to add to my routine.

And that concludes my list of goals for 2022! They aren’t anything special, but I thought I would share them and then I can give an update on them as the year goes on.

I feel like there are probably some other small goals I have in mind for this year but these are the main ones I could think of for now.

I’m not really sure what it is about this year that had me feeling optimistic but I was just in the mindset of I need to get shit done this year haha and so we will see what I’ve accomplished as the year goes on.

And hey, I guess you could say this blog post is already contributing to blogging more – so I’ll take that as a win! Oh and another thing this year I need to figure out how to end blog posts, I’ve struggled with this for forever…I just don’t know how to end my thoughts haha. One day I’ll figure it out, or I won’t follow along on this blogging journey with me haha.

2021: YouTube Edition!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

A montage of my 2021 YouTube videos! Gotta say this one was tougher to put together than others as it didn’t really have a flow but we went with it anyway – I said as long as I post more than one YouTube video a year I could make these and I’m sticking to it.

2021

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

We have survived 2020: The Sequel! Yay!

So here we are, another blog recap and this year we actually have things to talk about in comparison to last year when I feel like the world stopped. Things opened back up again and life was able to return to some kind of normalcy. At least for me, I know other parts of the world have had numerous lockdowns and such but in the UK we were lucky that things were opening up again.

That being said, we still had the ever-present risk of COVID. I am lucky that I did not get it this year at all, even at Christmas time when Omicron was infecting everyone – I couldn’t go online without seeing someone who had tested positive. But I kept testing when necessary, wearing my mask and social distancing and we made it through without getting sick.

So let’s go back to the beginning of the year, it honestly feels like a lifetime ago. Though I think I always feel that way when I am reflecting on the year. A lot can happen in 365 days and it’s hard to keep track, thank God I love to document things everywhere so I have references haha.

I started off the year on a Zoom call with my friends, because that’s how we celebrate the new year during a pandemic. We agreed to start the call at 8pm on New Year’s Eve and so I thought we would only chat for a couple of hours but we stayed on all the way past midnight. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t talk often in person haha.

January was a pretty uneventful month, it was mainly my boyfriend and I starting work on fixing up our house. In case you didn’t know, my boyfriend and I bought a house at the end of last year and it needs a lot of work done. So we took many trips back and forth to B&Q picking up DIY supplies to work on it. And I think we made good progress in the first month, and by ‘we’ I mean my boyfriend lol I tried my best but most of the time I feel like I was in the way, so I left him to do his thing.

Also in January, I started back on my online Zoom classes for my splits stretches. One of my goals in 2021 was to finally get my splits flat on the ground, I had picked up flexibility classes during lockdown last year because it was something easy I could do from home and so I wanted to keep it going this year. And I have to say I made significant progress and I am proud that I am *so close* to the floor now!

Now for 2022, I think the goal is getting my flexibility to a point where I can easily get into the splits during aerial and pole moves because at the minute, my splits can only be achieved through lots of stretching and on the floor. So I need to work on the mobility to get it at any point at any time. It’s going to take a lot of work but it’s something I want to aim for, if not that then working on faking it enough for photos haha.

All I remember about February was watching a lot of Netflix. I had a bunch of shows on my list that I wanted to get through and so I finally did. If you want to know more about that then check out this blog post I wrote where I shared my thoughts on them.

Aside from that, there is nothing much to note of February. My boyfriend celebrated Valentine’s Day by ordering some food and watching a movie. I played a lot of Animal Crossing. I continued with my Zoom splits classes. I was working. The same old, same old.

March surprisingly does not have much to note either. Apart from that, I went to my mum’s house to pack up the rest of my belongings to officially move into my house. When I moved in with my boyfriend after uni, we had an apartment so I only moved in with the stuff I had from my uni house which is about half of the stuff I owned since everything else was at my mum’s. So we packed that all up to bring to the house. And it is currently still boxed up in the living room because we do not have any space for it anywhere lol. But at least it’s no longer taking up space at my mum’s.

Other than that I played a lot of Sims and Animal Crossing, I believe we were still in a lockdown of some kind then. I don’t remember explicitly but due to the lack of plans in my planner I think it’s safe to assume nothing was open. My boyfriend and I did go on quite a few walks though so we still got outside, and of course were still going to B&Q every so often, I guess it was classed as an ‘essential’ store lol so at least we could get house supplies.

In April, again nothing much happened lol. The start of the year was a slow one I guess. It’s so weird to me though that I don’t really remember this time at all. Though I guess there was nothing worth remembering, we were still in lockdown there was nothing going on. Just work, playing games, stretching and this month I read a lot. I always set myself a reading goal on Goodreads so I try to fit in reading when I can. It’s been harder during the pandemic when I haven’t been leaving the house as I always read on public transport but I definitely made time for it in April as I read 4/5 books then.

In May things started to change and the restrictions were starting to be lifted. I decided it was time for me to finally start taking driving lessons which was something I have been putting off for a long time. Last year, I finally took my theory test and I was ready to start driving but then the pandemic hit and so I didn’t want to start lessons if I was going to have to stop them again later down the line.

So we started driving in May which was exciting but also scary. I learnt that I’m actually not great at steering which is not ideal for driving lol. But it’s something I think I can work on. I did gain some confidence in driving as the lessons went on though and that was good.

The bad news for me though was that my driving instructor was planning to retire so I didn’t know how long I was going to have with him as an instructor. This isn’t great because we got on well and I think if we had stuck on it I would have made good progress. But I tried to make the most of the time I had before I had to find a new instructor.

Also in May, I started back at my aerial hoop classes which were fun. I started hoop in January last year so I hadn’t been able to make much progress before we went into lockdown. However, I have stuck with it this year and I think I’ve made a ton of progress compared to where I started. In comparison to pole, I find it easier to grasp moves and advance which is great because sometimes pole can make you feel defeated if you don’t pick it up quickly. I also find it helps build strength in areas that pole does not so I am looking forward to more upside-down adventures in 2022.

In June, we got our first dose of the COVID vaccine which was exciting and a step in the right direction. Though I remember I had to wait for ages in line even though I had booked in a time slot. I was waiting for about 2 hours before I was finally able to get the injection but it was worth it. And the weather was good so waiting outside wasn’t too bad.

I also decided to take up physical journalling again after being inspired by someone on Facebook who would share her journal entries. I have journaled on and off throughout the years and decided to get back to it. I was pretty consistent with it throughout the year but I feel like as my life changes and things become a bit busier I won’t always have time for it. I imagine I will switch to a digital journal again at some point to make it easier to keep up with but for now, recapping the day and sharing my thoughts on paper has been working well for me.

June is also my birth month so I celebrated my birthday by going out for dinner a few times throughout the month with various friends and family. It was great to catch up with everyone and be able to go out and eat and drink. I usually don’t like to do anything crazy for my birthday so something small was perfect and being able to spend time with people in person rather than on Skype was great too.

Moving on to July…July was probably one of the busiest months I had this year. Pole classes were starting back, the cinema was reopening and I got to spend a whole weekend with my friends from secondary school and I even had an engagement party. It was wild.

First of all, pole starting back was exciting. I had already been back at hoop for a month, so thankfully going back to pole was not as gruelling as hoop was. My pole progress has been very slow the last year or so due to the lack of classes during lockdown and also that pole is a lot of work and strength. But I am still determined to keep working on it and improving. I also one day want to be comfortable with freestyling and making my own routines but I feel like I am still a long way off from that.

Also, the cinema reopened and this was exciting because my boyfriend and I love going to the cinema and it’s something we have missed out on a lot in the last year or so. We definitely took advantage and have been to the cinema almost every week since it reopened – we have been going less frequently now mainly due to the release of movies slowing down but in the beginning, I feel like the movies were being rotated in and out of the cinema at an alarming rate so we had to stay on top of it and see all the movies we wanted to see before it was too late.

In July I also got the opportunity to see all of my friends again which was so fun. Basically, all my friends moved to England and due to restrictions, I hadn’t been able to see them in a long time. But in the summer everyone was able to fly over and we had a great couple of days catching up and spending time together. I remember the weather being amazing and so we went for a walk at Castle Ward and it was great.

I also got my second COVID vaccine at the end of July. I decided to go a couple of weeks earlier than my scheduled date because I had some free time and was already going to be close to the vaccination centre. The wait was still a long one though, as I wasn’t booked in and so had to wait for a long time, still not as long as the first time though. So I am fully vaccinated and able to live my best life which was great because I had many more plans for the rest of 2021 and wanted to minimise the risk of getting sick as much as possible. And it definitely paid off.

At the end of July, my boyfriend and I went to an engagement party for one of his friends. It feels very grown-up to go to someone’s engagement party and I feel like they aren’t very common in the UK. But it was a nice day, we gathered in a garden and chilled out and had a nice time. It was also the first time my boyfriend and I had dressed up for anything in a long time so that was nice.

In August I decided to take up running lol. It is something random for me to do but I have never been good with cardio and I thought I would try it out while the weather was nice. I ran consistently enough through August and September before getting sick and taking time off. I did try to keep up the running after I’d gotten better but we didn’t quite get there with it. But I am glad I attempted it, I think it could be something good to do during the summer but it’s definitely not a winter activity for me.

I also had my first drag show in over a year, going to drag shows was one of my main hobbies for the last couple of years and so it was weird not to have that in my life. That being said, even if no shows were happening they kept being announced so over 2020 I had bought a lot of tickets to a lot of shows, I was just waiting to be able to go to them.

The first show back was Crystal Methyd and everything was social distanced and it was a fun time. Not going to lie I was waiting for it to be rescheduled because that’s how things had been going for us but I was so glad to have an event go ahead and nothing bad happened. It was definitely one of those things that made me believe things could start getting back to normal and that was great.

At the end of August, my boyfriend and I hosted people at our house for the first time since we moved in. Not going to lie, the house is still very much a mess. We had made strong progress on one room at the start of the year but not much had happened since then due to life getting in the way. So we all hung out in the kitchen haha but that was fine as we were just having some drinks and playing some games. It was a good night but I look forward to the future when our house is fully complete and we can properly welcome people in without having to apologise for the mess. It’ll take time but I know we will get there.

Moving onto September where I had my first and last lesson with a new driving instructor after my last instructor retired. I hadn’t had a lesson in a few weeks due to me being busy and my old instructor being busy so I was super nervous for my lesson with a new instructor. Let’s just say nerves got the best of me and I also didn’t feel like I got along with the instructor very well so I never booked another lesson.

Honestly, it was a sucky feeling to lose all the confidence I had with driving so soon, I know there was still a lot I needed to work on but on that lesson I felt like I was back to square one. So we ended up shelving driving for the year after that, I ended up being really busy in October and it took me ages to find an instructor in the first place so I decided I would try again in the new year. It’s not ideal and I will have to do my theory again but I thought it was what was best for me.

Wedding glam

Aside from the driving lesson fiasco, September was relatively quiet. I attended a wedding with my boyfriend at the start of the month which was another big step into returning to normalcy. It was also the first wedding that me and my boyfriend have ever attended together, and the first wedding I have been to since I was 14 lol. But I am now at the age where people I know are getting married that aren’t family and so I guess I should prepare myself. Especially because this wedding was only the beginning as we have two planned in 2022 and one in 2023.

But this first wedding was a family wedding and another excuse to dress up so it was a good time. There weren’t many restrictions at the wedding which was nice, though there was not meant to be any dancing but that was fine with me as I am not much of a dancer anyway haha.

Then in the second half of September I ended up having a cold which was not fun. I remember not being able to sleep and having an all-around miserable time. It’s probably the first time I have taken sick leave at work for longer than a couple of days. I used the time to rest and play a lot of Animal Crossing which I had neglected for much of the summer due to having plans again. But it was nice to come back to it after some time away, it has been a constant for so much of my life it’s nice to have that comfort when you are ill. And it definitely wasn’t COVID because I took multiple lateral flows and a PCR to make sure so just a terrible cold.

Thankfully, I was able to recover for October because I had plans every weekend in October, I hadn’t planned it that way it’s just how it happened so I feel like this was a month that flew by for me.

One of the most exciting things that happened this month is that my friend Jasmine found her wedding dress! She is getting married in a couple of years and she was lucky enough to get her wedding dress her first time out shopping. Sadly not all of us could go with her while she was dress shopping due to COVID regulations but the girls that went with her took loads of photos and video so we could see afterwards and it was fun. Surprisingly this activity didn’t seem to be out of place for me, usually this kind of thing would feel ‘too adult’ to be happening to any of my friends but I feel like this was always meant to happen. I guess because I had always imagined going wedding dress shopping with one of my friends eventually. Even if I think it will be weird to be at the actual wedding I know we were always meant to do wedding dress shopping one day haha.

I also got to meet my work team in person for the first time and spend time with them. I still had been working from home throughout the year so had not met my team at all. But we were given permission to take a half day and organise a ‘team bonding’ session outside of the office so we decided to meet up. It’s weird to think I was working with these people for a year and didn’t know any of them in person, but that’s the pandemic life. We spent an afternoon out bowling and getting food and I feel like I can say we bonded sufficiently haha.

October also brought the reopening of the theatre. I haven’t been to the theatre since 2019 to see Dear Evan Hansen. I say that like I go all the time lol but realistically I’ve been twice in the last few years but it’s been something new to do. And I got lucky because two shows I wanted to see were coming to Belfast in October – Six and Heathers. I bought tickets for both earlier in the year not really knowing if they were going to go ahead or not but I’m glad that they did.

Both shows were amazing and I really enjoyed being back at the theatre and seeing live performances. There’s something so impressive about seeing people perform in person like the talent is incredible and I could never. So I always appreciate the people that can and do perform.

This brings us into November. A significantly less busy month, which I am thankful for. Though it did start off well as I also got to go to a concert for the first time since Day6 in 2020. Not going to lie, I didn’t think I would be going back to a concert so soon, mainly because it would be the most crowded event I was going to this year and that was scary. But our seats were towards the front so no one was close in front of us and I wore my mask the whole time so it was fine. I went to see Steps with all my sisters and my mum, it was a super fun time and it was great to have that experience with my family.

We also went to see Steps a few years ago and that was a big thing for me because they were probably the first band that I was ever obsessed with way back when I was 7 or 8 and it was something I always shared with my sisters so it was nice to be able to do that again.

I got to see my uni friends in November as well, I haven’t really talked to them since we graduated and one of them moved to England after we left uni but she came over to visit and organised an outing for us. I thought it might be weird to see them again after so long but it was fine. I suppose when you go through 4 years of uni together you have a bond. So it was good to catch up with them again.

Finally, we reach December and honestly, your girl was tired lol. Writing this I realise I’ve been through a lot in 2022 and half of it was just getting back to regular life. I know things will never be fully normal again, especially with news everyday about COVID but I’m hoping it at least becomes manageable.

I thought December was going to be a relaxing time and for the most part, it was I mean I spent a lot of time after work chilling out and enjoying a fire and watching movies, playing Animal Crossing. But this was mainly due to the fact work was very stressful the last couple of weeks before Christmas.

There was a huge security vulnerability happening in the tech world and we had to work to patch it before the holidays and it was not fun. We had to upgrade versions two or three times because just when you thought the new version was safe, no there was another vulnerability lol. I imagine a lot of companies had to deal with this so yeah that’s super great. A nice way to end the year.

Even now in January, we had to upgrade again so it’s going to be something to keep an eye on, but at least it’s been more manageable than a pandemic.

So yeah, aside from work, home life was pretty chill. And at Christmas, I got to spend time with my family and I got to see my friends between Christmas and New Year’s. Naturally, I was doing lateral flows every few days because it seemed like everyone was getting COVID and the last thing I needed to do was spread it to my friends and family. I know all my friends were testing too which was good but family was another story. Though I haven’t heard of any news of anyone being sick so I take it as a good sign.

And so we head into 2022, I’m feeling quite ambitious this year as I have a few goals for myself that I hope to achieve. I am going to try and not put too much pressure on myself if they don’t happen but at the same time, I think they will be manageable. But those will come in a separate blog post as this one is hella long.

But I thank you for sticking it out to the end if you did. Though these are mostly for me, I like to put them out there in the world. 2021 has been a wild year and I’ve really enjoyed it. And because I have set myself some goals this year I am feeling uncharacteristically optimistic about what will happen this year. But we’ll see how I really feel about it by the end – I mean we are only a few days in, you never know what will happen.

Still, I think we should try to be positive as we’ve been through two hard years so here’s hoping something good comes our way in 2022!