Tag: Life Update

I Made a Ko-Fi

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Just wanted to make a little post to announce that I have opened a Ko-fi. I actually opened it a few months ago I just wasn’t sure if I should advertise or not but here we are. I am not expecting a lot, if anything at all to be honest. I know that a lot of people who make ko-fi accounts are in far worse off positions than I am.

But at the same time, I might as well take a chance and put it out there. Maybe someone out there likes what I do and wants to support me. I put it out there because while I do blog and make YouTube videos as a hobby and don’t expect money for it in return I might as well put the option out there.

I once tried to do the YouTube monetisation thing back when I was 18 but it never amounted to anything. I definitely was swept up in my content creator fantasies back then lol.

Anyway, yeah that’s literally it. If you enjoy reading my blog or watching my videos or anything then I just wanted to put the option there. Obviously if I did get any donations it would mean a lot, it’s pretty cool to get paid to do things you like but not everyone has the option/desire to do what they love for a living. But earning anything, even if it’s small means a lot.

I’m Engaged!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I haven’t blogged here with a real life update in forever but here’s a big one for you: I’m engaged!

It feels weird to blog about to be honest, but I have blogged on and off for years about things in life so why is this any different? I guess because it doesn’t just involve me, it involves my partner too. He is not a public guy whereas I am literally everywhere online so that’s maybe why. So I won’t be sharing too many details.

I still wanted to make a little post because it also felt weird not to post. So here we are lol.

This proposal came as a huge shock to me, I wasn’t expecting it at all. I mean I knew it was going to happen eventually, my partner and I have been together for 8 years and marriage has definitely come up in conversation. I just didn’t expect it to happen now.

I wasn’t in a rush to get in engaged or married, I suppose because we already live together and own a home and have plans to go travelling next year. I assumed the proposal would happen in maybe the next year or so? But I got caught off guard at the weekend when I came home to a mountain of rose petals and balloons.

Obviously I said yes and am over the moon!

I don’t know when wedding planning will begin so let’s not even go there with those questions lol. I think it could be fun to blog the wedding planning journey but at the same time stressful. I’ve never planned a wedding and I don’t know how much I’ll really want to share about it when the time comes but it could be fun to make wedding content.

All I know from other people getting married is that it’s stressful and there’s a lot to organise, but at the end it’s a beautiful day filled with love and friends and family.

So yes, that’s where we are now.. I’m a fiancee and am excited to enter the next chapter of my life with my partner. Like I said, not sure if I will start sharing information on wedding planning or what not so I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Until then, it’s back to the regular content about books and TV lol.

Long Time No See! | Life Update

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

It’s been 3 months since I uploaded a YouTube video so I thought it was time for a little life update. Mainly just talking about my channel and what’s going on there, feels weird to post something with my face in it because it’s been so long but enjoy!

I also filmed this because I was planning to do a haul video but I didn’t want that to be the first thing I uploaded in three months so yeah consider this a bonus lol.

New Piercing, Who’s This?

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

After thinking about it for a while I decided to get another ear piercing! Not going to lie, one of the main things that put me off getting one is just the maintenance of it. Like cleaning it every day and everything, it’s just so tedious. But my boyfriend and I were out last weekend and I decided to just go for it because otherwise, I’d probably never do it.

So here we are with a helix piercing, I am not going to lie I already want a second one haha. I think it would be nice to have two so I am going to go back to the piercer probably this week or next to get it. I want to get them around the same time so the healing time is similar. Ideally, I would have went back the next day, but the piercer recommended that I wait a week or so for the swelling in my ear to go down.

And so far it’s been a week and things are going well. Naturally, I am a little obsessed and overprotective about it but I just don’t want it to get infected. I’ve discovered things like putting on my glasses and wearing a mask require more attention than normal to not upset the earring. That and also sleeping – I can only sleep on my left side now which is kind of annoying. I didn’t even think about that when getting the piercing but it’s mostly been fine. It’s a bit weird not to be sleeping on my right side, but I know it’s for the best as to not irritate my piercing. Still, I look forward to the day I can roll on that side again haha.

Helix piercings can take anywhere from 4 months to a year to heal so this is another reason why I wanted to get the second piercing soon, if it’s going to take a year for my ear to heal from one why go through all the effort again in a few years you know? Also, the sound of the needle going through my ear was not a pleasant one so if I could just get through that again as quickly as possible that would be great. x

In terms of other piercings or tattoos etc there’s nothing on the horizon. I think I would probably get more tattoos in the future but I don’t have ideas for them currently. I would probably not get any other piercings though just because of the maintenance, and the fact I’ve had my lobe piercings for years and never change out the earrings. I mean I don’t think the helix will be any different but the option to have nice earrings is always there lol. I also do not think I would suit a face piercing or anything like that.

I’m looking forward to my ear healing and being able to have cute hoop earrings – I’ve seen lots of pics online of people with ‘curated’ ear jewellery where it’s all matching and aesthetic. I think I’ll strive for that for about two months before I go back to forgetting I have ear piercings haha. But yeah, that’s where I’m at, 25 with five piercings (two lobe piercings on both sides, one helix – soon to be two) and three tattoos. We’ll see where I am again in a few years lol.

Things I’ve Been Doing in Lock Down

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I thought I would make a blog post to share some things I have been doing since lock down. I guess this will also serve as a little life update blog post.

But yes, lock down. We are all being told to stay at home to reduce the spread of COVID-19 aka Cornavirus and it’s not been easy.

I know when you were a kid, you thought not having to leave your house for school was the best thing ever, but now? It’s just kind of depressing, especially when you can’t go and see your friends or anything else. So it’s been hard to adjust.

It’s not that I did a lot of things outside normally, I’m a very inside person haha I enjoy sitting at home and watching TV etc, but when I think about my day-to-day activity, I still was leaving the house for work and exercise classes, so to suddenly have that taken away has been tough.

The hardest thing about it all is that we don’t have a choice, we have to stay indoors and reduce physical contact with people and it really sucks.

So I thought I would share with you some of the things I have been doing while being stuck at home and not being able to see anyone.

Animal Crossing

This is a big one. I have been spending most of my free time playing Animal Crossing. Even if I wasn’t in lock down, I know this is something I would be doing because I love Animal Crossing and I was so excited about the release of the new Switch game.

Not only does the game give me something to do and keep busy, it has also been a way that I can meet up with friends and spend time with them.

I have a few Animal Crossing friends that I made when playing the previous game on the 3DS and meeting up with them in Animal Crossing has always been our only form of communication so it felt natural to hang out with them this way again.

It has been super enjoyable being able to spend time diving into this new game and it definitely provides a good escape to the outside world.

YouTube

To go along with playing a lot of Animal Crossing, I have also started to film Animal Crossing content for my YouTube channel.

This makes me feel productive, and I enjoy doing it. I started YouTube as a hobby over the years and I actually started with Animal Crossing Let’s Plays, so it feels good to kind of go back to that.

TV

Naturally I have also been watching a lot of TV during this time, my boyfriend and I have recently started to watch Westworld on NowTV. It’s a bit of a confusing show but enjoyable, something different to say the least.

I have also been keeping up with watching some One Tree Hill which I started to watch before all this lock down business.

Netflix Party

Along with watching TV I have also been using Netflix party to watch Tiger King with my friends. We use the Chrome extension to keep our video in sync while we video chat using Skype.

I enjoy this because it allows me to speak to and see my friends, it’s kind of funny because we usually don’t see each other very often in real life as we all live across the UK in different places, but with this we have been able to see each other twice in one week.

It’s been fun and I’m sure Tiger King is not the only thing we will watch via Netflix Party.

Online Exercise

So because I can no longer go to my pole or aerial hoop classes I have started taking online classes. These are offered by my pole and aerial hoop studios, it’s not pole or aerial hoop – mainly because I don’t own either of those but I am enjoying the classes.

I am currently taking a floor flow class to work on some floor choreo and also a stretch class to work on my front splits.

I don’t have a lot of room to take these classes, I just do it in a tiny corner of my living room but it has been helpful to keep some exercise in my life.

Walking

As well as online exercise I have been going on walks with my boyfriend, this is nice just to get outside in the fresh air. Something simple and also nice because we live near the coast.

It’s also helpful to get out somewhere when you live in an apartment without a garden. I feel like if I had a garden I would just go out there and enjoy the weather, but because I do not I have to go further out. It can be a bit tricky avoiding people this way because other people are also out walking but you do the best you can.

So these are all the main things I am doing to keep busy during lock down. Of course I am still able to work from home so that has been keeping me occupied during the weekdays.

It’s been an adjustment to work from home full time, I mean it’s hard to really get into the mindset of work sometimes because you are at home and just want to do anything but work. But I think I’m getting better at it though some days are better than others for my concentration.

But I am doing the best I can and I guess that’s all we can do in this situation. I’m also very glad that I’m this time we do have so much technology because it allows us to stay connected even when we can’t see each other in real life.

I am hopeful that if we all are following the guidelines and doing our best that we can get out of lock down soon. I know things won’t go back to normal right away but it would be nice to see some of the restrictions lifted.

In the mean time I will just be sitting inside playing Animal Crossing until we can actually be outside again.

~ Courtney

Christmas Decorating!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

At the weekend, me and my boyfriend decorated our flat for Christmas!

It is our first Christmas living together and I was super excited to decorate. We spent most of the weekend trying to find blue baubles for our Christmas tree and ended up getting them in Pound Stretcher lol. Still it was an adventure.

I love how the place ended up looking, the only thing I don’t love is having to turn on/off like 20 different things in each room of the place haha.

Still, it’s pretty cosy and I enjoyed the decorating, if only it was acceptable to have the decorations up year round because I am not looking forward to taking them down haha 😛

~ Courtney x

Graduation and Life After Uni

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

After four long years, I have finally graduated from university. It feels weird like it hasn’t even really happened. I think I felt the same way after I finished secondary school too. You know, you just spend so much time in a place doing the same things all the time and you get used to it.

Even though it still doesn’t feel like it has been four years since I started university, it feels like it wasn’t that long ago that I was going there for the first time and I was nervous. I remember making a YouTube video about it actually, I just talked about some things I was nervous about when starting uni. Not that I really had anything to worry about.

Though it did take me a while to come out of my shell at uni, I mean you’re thrown into a new place full of new people and don’t really know what to be doing. I was lucky that I still had some friends from secondary school to hang around with at the beginning so I didn’t feel totally lonely. We didn’t do the same course but it was nice to see them outside of class.

After a few months, I think I settled in pretty well though, I was living at home so I had a routine of getting up every day to go to uni and coming home. This didn’t last long though because the year after that I decided to move out.

It was a big step to move out for uni. I’d never had that independence before. Though in all honesty, I think I took to living away from home pretty well. It was nice to have my own space, though I shared it with two other people. I was lucky in the flatmates I had chosen as they were pretty chill, we respected each other’s privacy and we never really had any issues living together.

I’m glad I stuck with living with a small number of people, I don’t know how I would have dealt with living with four or five strangers. My first two flatmates were my friends when one of my friends moved out, I lived with someone I went to secondary school with. We weren’t friends but we were friendly enough that it wasn’t too weird to be living with them.

After that, it was just me and my uni friend. Our third flatmate went to study abroad for a year and we didn’t really want another flatmate. Again, this was great, I definitely couldn’t have asked for better flatmates.

Along with uni I also had a placement year, this was another thing I was nervous about because I had never had a job before then. I was new to the application and interview process but it wasn’t so bad. It was just about working hard and proving you were good enough, though it was still hard to believe I even got a job, especially when I had only been coding for two years and didn’t have other experience.

Luckily placement year went really well. Again I was thrust into a brand new environment that I had never been in before. It was actually not so bad settling into a job, it got me into a routine which was more than I had at uni, plus regular pay was pretty great.

Then came final year and it was a tough one. Suddenly I had more work than I had ever had before and deadlines every other week, it was a crazy time. I definitely felt like giving up a lot but I feel like that’s natural, in fact, I made a lot of friends in final year purely because we all bonded based on our lack of motivation and how stressed we all were.

But thankfully me and everyone else hung in there, worked hard and were able to graduate a few weeks ago.

Graduation day was a strange day for me, I mean I knew what to expect because I went to my boyfriend’s graduation ceremony the year before and mine was the same. But instead of watching him have his name called and walking across the stage it was my turn. I had the same concerns as everyone else that day, mainly just the fear of tripping on stage…

Luckily that didn’t happen and everyone made it across the stage in a timely manner. But it was still weird to actually be wearing the gown and getting all my photos taken and things like that, it just didn’t feel like it was the end. It still doesn’t feel like it now.

I mean it was still a good day and it was great to celebrate with friends and family. I guess I was just waiting to feel something super different. Sure I feel relieved now that I don’t have any more uni work to do and everything paid off. I think I felt more when I got my results to when I actually graduated. I guess because by results day I knew that I didn’t have to worry anymore, I got my degree classification and I knew it was going to be fine, so it was just plain sailing until graduation.

But now that’s university is over and I am on my way to being a ‘full adult’ it feels weird. I still feel like I’m too young or not ready or something. I’m definitely still getting used to the idea that I will now be working for the rest of my life. Something that I used to dread when I was in school. Though I guess before I thought it was because I was going to end up doing something I hated, thankfully the university choice I made was a good one and I enjoy what I do.

I think it’ll be an adjustment going into work full-time. Before, when I was on placement I knew that it wasn’t going to be forever and I was going back to uni, but now? It’s just me going to work and nothing else. I know that my whole life will not only revolve around work but it will become the next big part of it.

It’s kind of scary but at the same time, I think it’ll be good. I am looking forward to moving out into my own space, though this time without flatmates, I am looking forward to being able to spend time after work doing things I wasn’t always able to do during uni because I was too busy, and I excited to see what comes next.

So that’s where I am in life now, a university graduate, a young adult moving up in the world.

And so yeah, I guess I just wanted to make a blog post to reflect a little bit. I mean I don’t think I can really capture in one blog post how my four years at university were but I guess this gives you a little bit of insight, and if you have been following me on Twitter all this time then you probably got a good idea of what uni life was actually like for me lol.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed reading, and I promise I will be back with a regularly scheduled book review or TV show blog post soon 😛

~ Courtney x