9 things I love about Christmas

Hello,
It's that time of the year again! Christmas! I absolutely love this time of year, everyone seems so happy and joyful. Here are  9 things I love about the festive season!

1.The Christmas Carols
Christmas music makes me so happy. I love listening to it as often as I can (even if it feels to early)

2.Everyone is so happy
Something about the holiday season makes everyone so happy. Christmas is one of those things that most people look forward to and in the days leading up to it everyone has something to look forward to and a reason to be happy.

3.Start of the summer holidays
The end of the school year is always fun, not much work gets done! And because I live in Australia we get a seven week break starting a week or two before Christmas! What more could you ask for?

4.Seeing distant family
My mum's family is huge, and the only time I really get to see all of them is at Christmas dinner. It's really nice to see people who I haven't seen in ages (even though sometimes I don't recognise them until after they've left). And of course, I get to spend some time with Mop.

5.Buying presents for people
I absolutely love taking the time to find a gift that someone will really love, and their face when I give it to them.

6.Wrapping presents
I have a weird fascination with wrapping presents, I love it!

7.Baking!
Christmas food makes me happy. Gingerbread, cookies and little treats are as fun to make as they are to eat. Tomorrow I'm going to try and make mini Christmas trees with strawberries and green chocolate. (don't know how well its gonna go)

8.Setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house
Nothing says the start of December like setting up the Christmas tree, the shops always seem to do it really early, but my family usually waits until the first of December (sometimes later). I love pulling out all the decorations I've made, or bought.

9.The food
Nothing beats Christmas food. When else can you eat 3 desserts? And PAVLOVA!

I'm so excited for Christmas! We are getting close now! What are your favourite things about Christmas?
Have a great week

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8 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started my Bullet Journal

 Hey,
I've been bullet journaling for a few months now, and today I am going to share 10 things I wish I knew before I started...

1.You don't have to do it everyday
When I first started bullet journaling I would use it most days, but on the few I forgot or didn't need to I would rush late at night to fill in some stuff for that day. I've realised now that if I don't need to use it for that day, I just don't use it.

2.It's not just for to-do lists!
Originally I believed that the only thing that could go in my bullet journal were tasks I had to do. Now I understand that I can put whatever I want in there, trackers, calendars, tasks, notes...anything!

3.Find something that works for you!
At first, I would try and imitate spreads I saw on pinterest, or instagram and wouldn't use half of the things on the page. Eventually I worked out that I should chop and change things to suit me.

4.It doesn't have to be perfect!
At first I was really worried about making a mistake, so much so that I would use pencil and then go over it in pen. However, now I just go straight in with the pen, and embrace the mistakes.

5.You don't need expensive pens or books.
At first I didn't think this would work for me because I would have to go out and buy heaps of expensive stationary. However after some researching I worked out that anything will do, and just used the things I already had.

6.You can start whenever...
Before starting my first bullet journal I waited until the start of a new month. I kind of wish that I knew you can start a bullet journal whenever you want.

7.You don't have to be creative...but you can be.
It can be kind of daunting looking at all the beautiful pages on instagram, but I wish I'd understood that my journal didn't have to look like that- I could include/ not include as many pictures as I wanted.

8.It works really well!

I really wish I'd known how much I would enjoy bullet journaling, and how much it would make things easier for me....I would have started much sooner!

Make sure you check out all my other bullet journal posts! And let me know in the comments below what you love about bullet journaling.

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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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Snail Mail

Hey there, it's Poppy.
For Christmas last year, I received this Snail Mail book, written by Michelle Mackintosh. It shared some super cute ideas for hand-written letters. This book has inspired me to start writing hand-written letters to some of my friends and family.
Here are some reasons why snail mail is better than email, text or social media.

1.You get to receive letters in the mail. It sounds kind of silly but who doesn't love getting something (that isn't bills or boring stuff like that) in the mail.
2. You take the time to think about what you are writing. No one sends a letter that says ok or hi. People actually take the time and effort to consider what they want to say and put time into their replies.
3. You can make them creative and colourful. I am a visual person and I love things to be colourful and detailed. You can't add hand draw pictures or creative borders to emails. The snail mail book has lots of examples of creative ways to write letters.
4.You can keep all your letters. I have a box in my bedroom that I put all of my letters into. You can keep letters and re-read them whenever you want. They are much more special and significant than text messages.

So while text messages, email and social media are all great snail mail is a fantastic way to connect with long-lost friends, or friends that may have moved away, and family members. Why don't you give it a go? Send a letter to someone (it could even be the lady down the street or your grandparents). Have a go at making a letter interesting and adding a creative design.

Image featured in the background of the header of this post was found on canva.com as a free image. 
All opinions in the post are entirely my own. 

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Some blogging questions...

Hey there,
It's Poppy again.
I have been thinking about some ways for you to get to know me better and I thought that a question and answer post would be the best way. So here are a few questions that I think will let you know a bit more about the way I blog. I would love to hear your answers as well! Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
1. Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging 6 years ago to share my favourite book reviews but recently I have chosen to create this blog, with Mop, to share advice, tips, tricks and stories from our lives. We looked at soooooo many other lifestyle blogs and we both really enjoy reading them- so why shouldn't we start our own.

2.What is your favourite thing about blogging?
I absolutely love reading the comments that are left on our posts. It makes me really happy to see that our efforts are being appreciated by someone and we are achieving our goals. Your feedback is one of the reasons we started this- blogging is not a one sided thing.

3. When you are stuck for post ideas what do you do?
When I have absolutely no idea what to post- which happens often considering my mind is normally full of ideas- I look at pictures on Pinterest, or some websites with post ideas. Often thinking about something else can make a great idea pop into my head.

So there are 3 blogging questions that will let you know a bit more about the way I work around this blog. If you have any more questions, or would like some helping setting up your own blog leave a comment below or use our contact form.

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Summer has come and passed...

Hi, just letting you know that this is an older post that Mop wrote at the beginning of February. Unfortunately she couldn't write her post for today so I am going to share her favourite summer memories. xPoppy

 Hi guys! It is I, Mop! This is my first post here at Poppy & Mop, and it's about my favourite summer memories. (Also, anyone notice the stunning similarity between this posts title and Green Day lyrics? 😂)

Camping with my mates

Gah. I sound all bogan-ish but it's true, I had loads of fun camping with Poppy and some awesome other friends at the beach to celebrate my birthday. We all enjoyed it loads, apart from when we thought we heard the ice cream truck, but it turned out to be the seafood van, and getting bluebottle stings was also not the best...

My beautiful new cousins

I now have another three little cousins, all who I love very much. I spent a lot of the holidays in Sydney, and even went to the beach with R, who didn't get to eat any chips. I am so grateful that all my cousins are healthy and safe.

Going to Newtown

While staying in Sydney I went to Newtown three times, because there is really nothing like it where I live. I got some pretty cool art supplies and school stuff. I think my favourite Newtown shops would be Art on King, Pentimento, Made590, Oragami Doll and those super cool by vinyl and record stores.

A day at the beach

My family and I had a wonderful time at the beach at Freshwater, near Manly, while we were in Sydney. We found a lovely fish and chips shop, as well as explored the rock pools and splashed around a bit.

Epic Christmas (as usual)

Everyone who I am even vaguely related to I see at the big Christmas dinner with my family (luckily Poppy was there) and I had the most fun playing laser tag, chasing my younger cousins and stuffing my face with pavlova and other food.

Seeing Poppy loads

I don't often get to see Poppy as often as I wish I did, because we live on opposite sides of the city. I got to see her loads over the holidays and I am so happy, because it all lead to this blog.
What are your favourite things to do in the holidays and on the weekends?

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5 ways to disconnect...

Hey, this is my first post on Poppy and Mop and I am super excited to get to share some things with you.

Last weekend I spent a lot of my time doing homework (yay!!) and blogging but I did, on Saturday, spend some time outside with my family and it made me realise how caught up we are in our own lives and how little we have time to do something fun and active (that isn't PE at school). Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that you should spend every moment outside, offline and exercising (that would be CRAZY!!!) or that social media is taking over our lives or anything like that. I just want to give you some advice on ways you can stay sane in this super-connected modern world. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a break and remember the things you enjoy and the things that are important to you.

1.Take some time out- instead of waking up and rolling over to check your phone (admit it you do it) wake up and think for a few minutes. I like to think about how this day will span out. //Did you know that if the first thing you think in the morning is positive then your whole day can change?//

2. Focus on what makes you happy- if you spend time doing what you love your life will seem so much happier- why should you focus on the negatives?

3. Spend some time outside each day-You could take your maths homework outside and spent 15 minutes in the garden doing it. Fresh air is good for you and I find that it often helps me concentrate and what would have taken me 20 minutes is now more enjoyable and takes less time and stress.

4. Spend time with friends- friends are super important, instead of  having 10 friends who you don't really know try and be friends with fewer people but get to know them really well. I know that at high school it is often the person who is the most popular that seems to be the best but does that person really have a friend they can turn to if they need it?

5. Create something every day- whether it be a doodle or a story it is really important that you have some creative outlet- maybe you could even start your own blog! It doesn't have to take you long. I have an art journal at home that I try and draw in every day. I don't show it to anyone so there is no pressure to like my drawings or for them to even be good...(more about that in my next post on Saturday or next Monday)

So there you have it. 5 ways that you can take time out and enjoy your life a little bit more. Did I miss any? Leave you favourite ways to 'disconnect' below. I would love to hear from you!
See you soon

ps. Don't forget to check out Mop's post on Wednesday.
The image featured in the background of the header was found on canva.com as a free image

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