25 Bullet Journal Page Ideas for beginners

Hey,
As I'm sure you know (if you are a regular visitor to this blog) I started a bullet journal recently. I am really enjoying it and find it helps me stay organised and less stressed. (More about that in another post). Today I am going to share 25 page ideas that you could include in a bullet journal. None of these pages are particularly difficult to start and lists like this one are great places to look for inspiration for your own bullet journal.

1.Goals for the year/month
2.Long term goals
3.Bucket list
4.Books you have read
5.Books you want to read
6.Movies/TV shows to watch
7.Movies/TV shows watched
8.Sleep tracker
9.Habit tracker
10.Study schedule
11.Gratitude log
12.Inspirational quote
13.Mood tracker
14.Meal plan
15.Favourite restaurants
16.Grade tracker
17.Holiday plans
18.Things to get excited about
19.Photo challenge tracker
20.A 'brain dump' or general list of stuff
21.Budget tracker
22.Savings tracker
23.Things to do when you are bored
24.List of blog post ideas.
25.List of blog post ideas

What pages do you have in your bullet journal?

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Chocolate Fix

Hi there everyone,

You know those days when you just feel like chocolate? Sometimes there will be some chocolate in the pantry, or someone will have made a batch of chocolate biscuits, cake or some slice that you can have but more often than not there will not be any chocolate! (apart from cocoa, but that would  be gross all by itself!) This happens to me so often that I thought I might share some of the things I make, that don't take too long, and have an amazing chocolaty taste! Hopefully you will have the ingredients you need to make these in the house, I almost always do!

1. Microwave brownies- I haven't got a recipe for this one, because there are so many out there and the all have different chocolaty-ness, but what could be better than a two-minute microwave brownies with some strawberries or ice-cream? Sure to give you the chocolate hit you are looking for.

2.Hot Chocolate- This hot chocolate recipe is the best one I have every tasted! And that is saying something, considering how many different hot chocolates I have had in my lifetime! But if you don't have a thermomix the recipe on the side of the Cadbury cocoa box is almost as good!

3.Chocolate slice- this chocolate slice takes a bit longer than the other things to make, but the amazing taste definitely makes up for it. This isn't exactly the same as the recipe I use because that one is out of a cook book and I couldn't find it online. The best thing is that it only uses cocoa so there is no need to go to the shops!

Hopefully you have gotten the chocolate fix you were after using one of these recipes. Make sure you have butter, sugar and cocoa all the time and you will never be short of chocolate!

Let me know in the comments below if you have another quick recipe you love to make when you need some chocolate!

XxxPoppy

QOTD: What is your favourite chocolate?

AOTD: Probably Lindt plain chocolate or Cadbury dairy milk, or caramel!

Image featured in the background of the header of this post was found on canva.com as a free image. 

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Bullet Journal Update #3

Hey,
Normally I post these bullet journal updates on a Monday but I am going away tomorrow (!!!!!) so I'm doing it today and I have some posts scheduled for the rest of the week, apologies if I don't get to any comments and/or emails this week.

Yesterday night I brought an actual proper bullet journal, it is a leuchtturm 1917, dotted and a specialised bullet journal. This was probably not necessary but it is a good quality book that will last for a long time, and now that I have experimented and found how much I love bullet journalling I figured that a proper book wouldn't hurt.

Today I am going to share 4 ways to make your bullet journal more interesting.

1.Colour
One super easy way to make your bullet journal is using colour. Simply colouring in the title, or a small doodle can make things heaps more interesting.

2.Hand-lettering
I don't really use this in my journal, but you can search on pinterest and instagram and find heaps of examples of beautiful hand lettering that can be a super-easy way to make your bullet journal beautiful.

3.Quotes and sayings
Making your journal interesting can be easy if you just add a few of your favourite quotes every week and/or day. I have a few pages in my bullet journal devoted solely to quotes.

4.Doodles
I love spending time adding small pictures to some of my daily and/or weekly logs in my bullet journal. You could add a symbol for the weather or something simple like that to begin.

Have a great week everyone!

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Bullet Journal Experiment #1

Hey there,

On Monday I decided that I was going to start a bullet journal. I really enjoyed looking at the ones I found on pinterest and I decided that it would be a great way to organise myself. 3 days later I have found a journal to use, a pen and started my index page as well as some other pages. For those of you who do not know below is a video that explains what a bullet journal is.

I've decided that I am going to make my bullet journal an experiment and publish weeklyish updates here. Each week I am going to give you a few tips that I have learnt and include some photos of my journal. Today I am going to share some tips for getting started.

1.Don't stress about it being neat and the order making sense- the index page means that you don't have to worry about keeping things in any order.

2.Experiment with different layouts and find the one that works for you. I am still finding the layout that works best for me and I'll let you know when I find it.

3. Use colour and pictures to make it more interesting. I am going to stick with 3 or 4 main colours to use for each page and add pictures instead of words to make my journal more exciting and, hopefully, make me want to use it more.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any tips for me to use in my bullet journal , or if you have a bullet journal.

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September Photo Challenge

Hey everyone.
Last month I write up an August Photo-a-Day challenge and challenged all of you to take a photo every single day for the 31 days of August. I don't know how many of you did it but I do know that I tried (and failed) to keep up with everything and taking a photo every single day. I really liked the idea of a photo challenge but I couldn't work it into my already bursting schedule. But that gave me the idea of something a bit more relaxed and easier to fit into your lifestyle.  (Drum roll please.....)

The September Photo Collage Challenge

The September Photo Collage Challenge is simple (I guess) and it allows you to fit the challenge in and adapt it to suit your lifestyle.

The challenge is to, between now and the last day of September, fill a 3x3, or 4x4 or 5x5 or even 6x6 or 9x9 (if you are feeling ambitious) grid of photos. You choose the sized grid that you think will be most achievable for you (if you think you can take 81 different photos in the next 26 days go ahead, and make sure you let me know how you go).

Here is how it works:

1.Choose the grid that best fits what you will be able to do (I think I will be doing 5x5 or 4x4, that is only 20-25 photos).

2.Simply take the number of photos in the grid you chose that summarise your September.

3.Try and make the gird as accurate as possible, that is the challenge try and not just take photos of your exciting holiday but capture the not-so-interesting parts of you life as well, if the majority of your September was spent at home doing not-so-much your grid should reflect that.
4.Create the grid, using a collage app or website.

The exciting bit:
I figured that to make this challenge that little bit more exciting I would make it a competition.
If you participate in the challenge and at the end of September decided that your grid is amazing and you want to share it with the world (or the small part who have discovered this blog) you can email it to us (as a photo please) with a short summary about your experience and/or September for the chance to get it displayed on our blog, and the chance to create the October photo challenge with us (if that is what you would like).

So get your cameras ready and start snapping at September! We'd love to know if you are participating, let us know in the comments below. Over the next four weeks we will be sharing some tips and ideas for your September Photo Grid.


 

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Books I've Loved Recently

I am so sorry that we haven’t posted in almost a week now, both Mop and I have been super busy with school work but everything is under control now and things are going to go back too normal.

During the last weekend I worked on updating our good reads account, which you can find here, and I decided that I haven’t shared any book ideas with you in a while, so that is what I am going to do today. These books are the ones I have read most recently.

The last leaves falling. This book is about a teenage boy, Sora who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, one that has taken away all his dreams for his future and even his hopes of finishing the school year. Desperate for someone to talk to him normally, Sora turns to an online messaging forum, where he can talk to others without them knowing about his illness. To his surprise Sora makes some friends who he trusts enough to invite over. Together with Mai and Kaito, Sora spends his last few months of his life as happy as he possibly can be.

The sisterhood of the travelling pants. This book follows four life-long friends (Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget) as they spend their first summer apart. On the eve of their separation the girls find some pants that magically seem to fit all four of them, despite their different body shapes, the girls agree to send the pants between them during the summer as a way of keeping in touch. The book alternates between the four girls and their summers. Following Carmen to her dad’s new house, Bridget to a soccer camp in Mexico, Lena to Greece to visit her grandparents and Tibby to the local shop for her summer job.

One. This book is about conjoined twins, Tibby and Grace. Since they were born Tibby and Grace have not known anything but being one, and they have never wanted to be separated. But one fateful day Grace begins to get very sick and there is only one way the doctors can save her life. The girls have to make what seems like an impossible choice, their lives changing forever no matter what they choose.

Hopefully you have found one of these books (at least) appeals to you. Let me know in the comments below what books you have been reading recently.

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5 tips to help you manage peak-assessment time.

Hey,
It's just past the middle of term 3 for me and that means that all the assessment is piling up, there are so many dates to remember, things to write and bibliographies to write. Sometimes it all feels a bit too much and like you will never be able to get over the workload but using the tips and websites below will hopefully help make things a bit easier for you, and help you achieve your best. (I know they all help me a lot).

1.Make an assessment calendar! This is a super simple and easy way to know what is coming up. Assessment planners are pretty much a calendar of the term or semester in which you write all your due dates, tests, exams and distribution dates. To make one simply create a table with a row for each week of school you have (plus one extra) and 6 columns. The way I organise mine is to have the weeks down the right hand side, and the days of the week across the top. (That wasn't a very clear explanation so I've added an image below). You then add the dates (like a calendar) and fill in the assessment.

2.Use a diary/planner. A diary or planner gives you a chance to record all the things you have to do for each day, the classes you have and assessment that could be given out or due.

3.Start as soon as you get the task and work on it steadily. You've probably heard this a million times before but starting the assessment as soon as you get it makes a world of difference the night before it is due (you get that amount of time to do it for a reason). But make sure you do a little bit most days (or starting early will be pointless)

4.Break the task into mini-tasks. I find this a great way to make the task a bit more approachable. The day I get the task I usually spend about half an hour working out 'mini-tasks' and creating ',mini-due-dates' for the tasks. This helps me see how far along I am and how much I have left. It also helps you to not panic about how much you have left to do.

5.Use some of these websites. I use all these websites for pretty much all my assignments and they make things so much easier. Hopefully they will help you too.

Wunderlist- wunderlist is super useful for point four, it lets you create folders for different assignments and break the assignment into chunks. You can create due dates for each chunk and even break your afternoon up into sections (more about wunderlist coming up next week)

Cite this for me- I'm sure you've all heard of cite this for me but it is soooooo useful I couldn't leave it out of this list. Basically it creates a bibliography for you, all you have to do is copy and paste the website url.

Instagrok- Instagrok is like a search engine mind map. You type in a key word and it brings up heaps of relevant information in a mind map format.

Grammarly- grammarly isn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped but it still works pretty well and can really help push your grades up.

Hopefully these websites and tips will help you as much as they help me. Don't forget to let me know in the comments if you have any other tips or websites that might be useful.

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Photo Walls

Hey,
Does any one else take heaps and heaps of photos and spend ages looking through them and editing them but then does nothing with them? Until a few weeks ago that was the way I worked. I'd take photos (on my camera, phone and instax), edit them and then they would just sit on my computer gathering 'dust'. But then I discovered photo walls.

Today I am going to share 4  different types of photo walls and what I think about each one.

1.String photo wall
This is the kind of photo wall where some string (or fairy lights) is strung across the wall and photos are pegged to it. I did try this method in my room but I found that the string/lights kept falling down. Make sure that you have strong hooks to tie the string to.

2.Instax photowall
I have one of these photo walls in my room and I love the way it looks. It is pretty much simply sticking all your instax photos onto a wall. I have a kinda triangle shaped wall in my room and this is where I have my instax photos. It looks pretty cool!

3.Digital camera photo wall
I'm in the process of building one of these. Basically it is covering an entire wall with your favourite digital photos.

4.Scrapbook wall
This idea really just occurred to me but why not use my photoshop tutorial and create some scrapbook pages to hang on the wall?

Really you can do anything you want. Perhaps a quote wall or inspiration board? Let me know what you think, or the ways you display your photos in the comments.

Have a great week

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5 ways to relax.

Hey,
It's coming up to the middle of the term here and that is always peak assessment time! I can often find it hard to find time to relax or even ways to relax after a stressful day, or lots of studying/homework. Today I have put together a list of 5 ways to relax, hopefully this can help you find time to take a break and be at your best for tests.

1.Bake Something.
A cake or some biscuits are super easy/quick to make (unless you choose something super difficult) and give you a break from working, as well as providing a snack for while you are studying.

2.Excersise.
Playing a game of netball, going for a run, yoga and any other exercise you can think of is a great way to give your brain a break and body a go.

3.Do some colouring in.
I love colouring in and I always find that it makes me heaps more relaxed. Find yourself some free printable colouring pages (or buy a book of colouring pages, I have the Johanna Basford ones.

4.Jorunal
According to this website journaling is a great way to relax and unwind.

5.Read a book.
A lot of the books many people read are for school, or to learn something but taking the time out to read a book that you want to read can help you feel relaxed and calm. Check out these posts for some book suggestions and ways to find new books.

Next time you are feeling particularly stressed or worried try one of these techniques. Let me know in the comments below any other ways you have to relax. All of these can be a great way to calm down before going to sleep as well.

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5 ways to find a new book

Hey,
It's Poppy once again.
Finding a new book is always a struggle for me. There is so much to choose from and I never know where to start or what I even want to read. Today I've put together a list of 5 ways you can find your next favourite book.

1.Look at books similar to the one you've just finished, or recommended books for next. -on the Kindle it automatically recommends similar books when you finish one that you have just read, I find that there is usually a good book or two in this list. If you don't have a kindle you can look up similar books on the internet.

2.Look at more books by that author- assuming you liked that book this is a great way to find another different yet similar book. Simply searching an authors name will bring up books that they have written. And if the author hasn't written any other books keep checking to see if they publish a new one.

3.Ask your friends- ask your friends or some people who have similar interests to you what they have been reading and if they are liking it. This is a great way to find a new book.

4.Ask an adult- ask your parents what they read when they were your age, or go to the book store and ask one of the staff members for a recommendation.

5.Read blogs/goodreads- blogs (like this one) often have lists of books to read, or book reviews and goodreads has heaps and heaps of different book suggestions and reviews.

Hopefully this list will give you an idea of where to start next time you finish a book. You can see all the posts we have written about books here. Let me know how you find a new book in the comments below.

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August Photo-A-Day Challange

Hey, it's Poppy!
Today is the first of August- the start of a new month, the last month of winter. I was home sick today and I have been thinking about ways to make my week at home a bit more interesting (which is hard) and I only managed to come up with a few things (which is for another post). One of these things however was an August photo-a-day challenge. I did some research and there are some other challenges out there but I decided seeing as I have some extra time I may as well make my own.

How does it work?
Simply complete the daily challenge. You could then upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #poppyandmopphotoaug and share your amazing photos with everyone. If we get enough people interested we will probably share some of the photos here. We will only share your photo with your permission.

Requirements?
Really there are none- just take a photo every single day for the next 31. Just make sure they are your own photos. You don't even have to share it if you don't want to. Interpret the challenge any way you want- there is no wrong answer!

Challenge
1- Something you love
2- Something hot
3- Something that is cold
4-Something green
5-Something made of wood
6- Something that is related to reading
7-Something that makes you smile
8-Something colourful.
9-Something from outside
10-Something you couldn't live without
11-Something that reminds you of a holiday
12-Something that is your favourite colour
13-Something that you have in your garden, or just outside your apartment.
14-Something music related
15-Something that you see everyday
16-Something blue
17-Something that has a number in it
21-Something you can eat.
19-Something from above
20-Something red
21-Something that only has two colours in it.
22-Something from below
23-Something soft
24-Something that is shorter than you.
25-Something that is only one colour
26-Something sweet.
27-Something from an unusual perspective.
28-Something that is taller than you
29-Something that casts a shadow
30-Something really small
31-Something that you've had for as long as you can remember.

Enjoy

QOTD: Fruit or Veggies?
AOTD: Fruit.

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Ways to keep warm in winter.

Hey there, It's Poppy!

It has been really cold and miserable this week where I live. Lots of wind and rain, as well as freezing cold nights and not much warmer days kind of makes me just want to curl up under my doona and never come out! But unfortunately I have other stuff I kinda have to do (like go to school). So that got me thinking about other ways that I can keep warm- flicking the heater on is probably the most obvious one, but have you ever considered what else you could do instead/as well?

1.Hot water bottles- my hot water bottle gets used at least once a day in winter! I almost always have it in my bed about 10-15mins before I go to bed so that my bed is warm when I get in. But I also cuddle up with it when I am reading or going to sleep, to keep me a bit warmer!

2.Socks- not normal socks, but super fluffy, soft and warm socks. I got a set of two from cotton on body a few weeks ago and they keep my toes really warm- especially when I am in bed. But there isn't any reason why you couldn't wear them around the house as well.

3.Hot chocolate/tea- Soon I will be sharing some of my favourite hot drinks but tea and hot

chocolate are great ways to warm up when it is cold outside.

4.Sitting by the fire- if you are lucky enough to have a fireplace it is a great spot to set yourself up near during winter. Make sure you don't sit too close though- you don't want to burn yourself!

5.Soup- soup is one of my favourite things to eat during winter- it warms be up straight away! I really like the sweet potato soup my mum makes!

Do you have any suggestions of ways you can keep warm in winter? I'd also really like you to leave any questions you have in the comments below that I can answer in an upcoming Q&A post.

 

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What should I make next?

Hi there everyone,

It's Poppy again! Today I thought that I might share some different art forms that I enjoy. Everyone has heard of some of these put others aren't so popular and maybe one will be your next favourite artwork!

1.Watercolour painting- who doesn't love watercolour paints? They are so easy to work with and you can create so many different shades and effects without having to buy a lot of paint. You could try doing a shillouette, drip painting or just a normal painting!

2.Scrapbooking- scrapbooking is great fun and a great way to document your travels. You can start scrapbooking with just  book, some paper, pens and glue but once you start you will probably need to get some fancier paper, stickers and other scrapbooking supplies. I love scrapbooking with my instant (polaroid) photos.

3. Photo doodling- this is an art form that isn't really that popular- but I love it. In a drawing class on creative bug I did at the beginning of the year (line drawing) I was introduced to this fun way to reinvent and add interest to photos. Basically you just draw lines, and circles around the main parts of the photo. But you can see the class for more information.

Let me know in the comments if you had a go of any of this, especially the photo drawing! I would love to see photos, you can email them to me at PoppyandMop@oulook.com.

Have a great day

PS. I would love to hear any questions you have for me to answer in a Q&A post coming up, email them to me or leave them in the comments.

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Doing the harder thing

Hi there, It's Poppy again.

Today I came across this video on YouTube. !Click the link if the video below doesn't work! I thought that it was a really good video and had a great message- so I wanted to share it with you. Go ahead and watch it then read the rest of the post and feel free to leave any thoughts in the comments.

At the beginning of the video Hank talks about having to get up and go for a walk early in the morning. Although it is unpleasant to get up early and he doesn't feel happy right then he feels better in the future. I think that this is a really good point- while it might be hard to do something it will be worth it in the long run. It is an important thing to remember and I know that I could certainly do better at it.

Let me know in the comments what you think of this video and if you would like to see more of this kind of post.

QOTD: What did you do today?

AOTD: Went to school

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Sweet Treats

Hey there,
It's Poppy!
I'm actually in the mountains right now, taking photos, skiing and spending time with my family, there will be a post about that soon, but I wanted to share this with you anyway.

During these school holiday I have been making so many different sweet treats! I wanted to share the photos of them, and a link to the recipe I used, on here for you. Apologies if it makes you hungry!

Lamingtons from the everyday thermomix cookbook

Macarons from this website, more on these in a later post.

I also made this lemon and blueberry loaf and melting moments from a cookbook

QOTD: What is your favourite sweet treat?

AOTD: Brownies or macarons.

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How to create a watercolour silhouette

Hey there, It's Poppy!

Recently I have been doing some watercolour painting at school and we used masking fluid  to create silhouettes. 

For those of you who do not know masking fluid is a liquid that is painted around or on areas of the painting that you do not want to get paint onto and when it dries it acts as a barrier against paint, it can then be peeled off to leave areas clean

I loved doing it so last weekend I went to the art shop to get some masking fluid, and I found that it was super-duper expensive (I think it was about $20 for a 75ml bottle). I decided against buying it and tried a technique that I have heard of but never really used before. Crayon.

It worked surprisingly well and I don't think that I will be buying masking fluid anytime soon.

How to create a watercolour silhouette without using masking fluid

You will need:

Watercolour paper (watercolour paper is much better to use for this because it is much more sturdy and can take the amount of water we are going to be adding)

Watercolour paints (the ones I used were not the best quality paints, as in a $15 set of 30, but still worked well)

Paint brushes (I used various sizes, but if you can only have one size a medium or small brush would be best)

Water

Paper Towel

A white crayon

Some printer paper

A led pencil

Optional-a computer to print from

How to: (for variations and different ideas see the notes below)

1. Find an image that could be used for a silhouette on the internet (you could alternatively draw one straight onto the printer paper). (I used a single elephant silhouette) and print it onto the printer paper.

2. Cut around the outside of the image on the printer paper.

3.Lay the cut-out image onto the watercolour paper in the position you want it to be for the final painting.

4. Trace around the outside of the image using a led pencil, make sure you only do it lightly!

5. Remove the image that you cut out earlier from the watercolour paper 

6.Using the white crayon carefully trace just inside the pencil line, around the whole shape.

7.Fill in the rest of the shape with the crayon.

8.Choose the colours you would like to use (I used a turquoise and pink)

9.Cover the area outside your shape with water (this makes the pain easier to spread, remember that you may have to reapply it in certain areas, depending on how fast you work)

10.Paint the area outside your shape (I blended my colours together with water), be careful and try not to get to much paint on the crayon but if you do get some on the crayon simply dab it or push it outside the shape with the paper towel. 

11.Wait for the paint to dry (you may want to rub the pencil out carefully)

12.You are finished. 

Notes

-You may want to do more than one of the same image on your painting, to do this simply do step three and four for the first image and then go back and repeat steps three and four for the rest of the images.

-Alternatively, you could paint the inside of the shape and leave the outside white, to do this simply reverse step three (trace on the outside of the pencil line) and don't worry about filling in the background.

Hopefully, you had fun doing this. I would love to hear about your attempts or see some photos (if we get enough I could post them on here in a few weeks) of your artwork.

I'm about to go out and take some photos that I might share tomorrow :-)

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CHOCOLATE SAUCE RECIPE

Hiya everybody :) 

So today I ate pancakes, and I was like, 'oh my sweet lord imagine chocolate sauce' and the rest is sorta self-explanatory. We had a pitiful amount of chocolate in the house so I would use more if I had more. And yes, I do understand that this is mostly melted chocolate but really I don't see a problem with that. The recipe I used for the pancakes was just one off the back of the buttermilk bottle.

Ingredients:

-6+ squares of chocolate (I used Cadbury's milk chocolate)

-3 tablespoons of milk

-Water

Method:

1. Heat water in a small saucepan on a stovetop. (I used about 1 cup of water, with a small saucepan)

2. When the water is simmering, place a heatproof bowl on the edges of the saucepan so the bottom is not touching the water.

3. Break up all the chocolate, and place it in the bowl.

4. When the chocolate is melted, turn off the heat and add milk, stirring constantly until it has reached a silky smooth consistency.

5. Serve immediately drizzled over pancakes or a similar meal.

Don't forget to rinse anything with chocolate on it asap because it will stick!

enjoy, xx mop

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G E T A C T I V E// by mop

Hey guys :) it's mop. I'm not dead, ik.

Today's post is all about getting active! I'm not going to sit here and preach at you to be active, but I am going to tell you why, and how to be active if you so desire.

Why you should be active

Being active has so many health benefits that if I wrote them all here I would probably have enough writing for blog posts for the next seven years, so I thought I'd list some of the ones that I feel directly benefit me the most.

-happier mind

Yes, sometimes doing the harder thing (a.k.a running when you could be a snail) is good for your mental heath. By waking up every morning and doing some form of physical activity you are giving yourself a better outlook on the day. Personally, I dislike (hate with a passion) waking up early, but I definitely do have a better day if I exercise first thing in the morning. Some good activities to try are shuttle runs, yoga and stretching, jogging or walking.

-better breakfast

As a person who struggles every day to even think about eating before 9:30, doing something that makes me hungry definitely makes eating a lot easier. Some great things I like to eat are crumpets (not very healthy but oops), carrots, honey and bread, but most mornings I make a breakfast smoothie using whatever fruit there is around.

-lowers risks of illness

Exercising regularly and keeping healthy drastically lowers the chances that you might get sick. This all comes down to everyones different immune systems (I exercise a lot and got really sick recently). However, being active and healthy really can make all the difference when it comes to bouncing back from a cold or other illness.

How I get active

I exercise quite a bit, and I'm going to share my favourite ways to do so with you :).

-organised sport

Playing an organised sport is probably my favourite and by far the easiest way to get active. Many schools in Australia have sports teams, and even if yours doesn't, there are always clubs. I play hockey, netball and volleyball through my school, but many girls at my school play sports through a club. Another reason why playing an organised sport is great is because it isn't self-directed and you owe it to your team/ squad to be at training and games and competitions. Most teams have one to three training sessions per week, depending on the intensity and level it plays at, with one competition/game per week. Personally, I love team sports because not only is it a great way to get healthy, you make some great friends.

-running

There really is nothing like just going out and running (it is actually one of the things I do when I should be writing blog posts). Most districts have a local oval that you can run on, or you can just run around the block. Running is a great way to see how much fitter you have become because you can time yourself, but you can also see how fast you run and how much stamina you have built up.

-at home yoga and stretching

Stretch out your muscles and relaxing is the best thing to do after a workout. It lowers the chance of getting cramps, stressed ligaments or other injuries if you have a good stretch every now and then. I like to try and touch my toes, stretch out my shoulders, stretch my joints and work on my ankles. 

So there it is. How and why to get active *jazz hands*. I did put research into this post, but I'm not health professional, so remember to seek professional advice if you have any concerns. I hope you are inspired to go and get active, and do the better thing for your health. Make sure you find some funky workout songs too.

qotd: What is you favourite workout song?

aotd: I really like exercising to Teenage Icon by The Vaccines, buy I think that's just my music taste. I don't mind anything as long as it has a good beat.

Comment your answer xx

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Winter Wonderland...

 Hey there all,
Hope you are having a fantastic week (I am now that my science test is done).
It appears that winter has decided to pay a visit to this part of Australia and now it is absolutely freezing (and I mean below zero temperatures). We've had both the fire and heater on and it's the kind of weather that makes you just want to stay cuddled up in bed, under the doona, drinking tea/hot chocolate, and not really focusing on anything.
But I've been thinking... everyone seems to love summer and spend all winter complaining about the cold and wishing it was summer. While I love being at the beach and not having to go to school during summer I also love winter and here are the reasons why:

1. SNOW. I love skiing and while it doesn't snow where I live it snows not too far away and I love travelling to the snow for a weekend and spending some time skiing.

2.MY BIRTHDAY. My birthday is coming up!!!!

3.Hot Chocolate and Tea. I love drinking tea and hot chocolate and winter is the perfect time for it.

4.It's not stinking hot. The good thing about winter is that it is so much easier to warm yourself up then cool down. This is probably my favourite thing about winter (apart from my birthday and skiing)

5.Cuddling up under the doona with a hot water bottle. No more needs to be said.

So hope you are feeling a bit better about heading into winter now (and anyone who isn't when it is your winter remember this). Let me know what your favourite things about winter are below.

PS. I've decided that I am going to post every Monday, Wednesday and on the weekends, Mop will probably not be posting every week.

Image featured in the background of the header of this post was found on canva.com as a free image. 

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Exams, Assignments, Tests- How do you stay on top of it all?

Hey there, just in case you didn't notice Mop and I have swapped posting days (so I now post on Wednesdays). Hopefully, Mop will start posting on Mondays from now on.

I am an organised person. I like things to be in order and I generally know when I have assessment coming up at school. But at this time of year, it seems a bit like all the teachers got together and decided to put all the semester exams within four days of each other. It is so hard to decide what you need to remember. Should I focus on these dates for history or the formulas for maths? So today I thought that I might share some of the ways I stay on top of this assessment.
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1. Start revising early (don't worry months aren't always needed, just a few weeks will do)
2. Focus on what you don't understand. (have a look through your book and think about what you didn't understand, spend more time on that but make sure you spend a few minutes on the other things as well.)
3.Write all the important information on a piece of paper or notecard as if it was something you were allowed to bring into the test with you. Revise using this.
4. Teach it to someone else. A sibling or friend who would be willing to listen to you for awhile could be a valuable tool. Teach them the important information.
5. Hand-write it- This won't make you magically remember everything but hand-writing is proven to help you retain more information.






The image featured in the background of the header of this post was found on canva.com as a free image. 

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