I have a journal which I've kept since starting my second year of university. I've written at least something in it for most days, and I've never stuck with a diary so much as I have this last 6 months. I'm not sure why I've suddenly started writing everything down, but I really love reminiscing and looking back at old photos and diary entries. I love taking photos of everything I get up to and I suppose that's similar to a diary, but this year I want to also do a little summary blog post about things I've done or thoughts I've had about the week. I'm not promising it'll happen every week because I'm not the best at sticking to things, but I'll give it my best shot.

So this week was the first week of the new year. A lot of people can be incredibly cynical about the new year, new me stuff, and I prefer to set 'goals' for myself rather than 'resolutions', because I prefer thinking of things I want to achieve rather than things I want to change or stop doing. I kind of hate and kind of love new years. New years eve is my birthday, and while I enjoy the birthday part because I'm with my family celebrating I never really enjoy the countdown or the new year celebration because I always feel a bit lonely and sad at the year ending (lol). Saying that, once I'm over the countdown I do like the arrival of January 1, because while that means for me that exams are on the way it means that I have a fresh start to the year ahead of me. With this new year I've got my fresh start, I've cut my losses about the previous year and all the bad stuff that happened, and I'm more ready than ever to really make a good go of it this year. If you're interested in seeing the goals I've set myself for this year then you can find them here.

Here are some of the things I've been up to this week:

I've had quite a busy week this week as I go back to uni in a few days so I have to start getting ready. I've begun packing, and I've started to buy food to take back with me (mostly comprised of the generic uni student fare of pasta, rice and noodles lol!).

I made some yummy oatmeal cranberry cookies yesterday that I'm hoping will last until I have to go back so I can take a couple with me!

I've spent a fair amount of time revising this week, exams start in a few weeks and I'm really stressing about them. Hopefully I'll do well, I would hate to flop them as this year is really important.

I had a morning out shopping with my mum which was fun, I got quite a few things that I needed and it was just nice to have some girly time out.

I got to see my cousin and her child for the first time in ages as well, it's always lovely to see them and I miss them lots when I'm not at home.

I went out for dinner with my primary school friends this week, some of whom I hadn't seen for nearly 8 years. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but we had a great time reminiscing about primary school and all the people we went to school with and where we all were now.

This week was a week for reflections, a week or reconnections, and a week for re-kindled friendships. I had a really positive week, with my fresh start and fresh outlook, and I couldn't be happier.