Thoughts | Life As A TwentySomething Grandma

'Are you actually nearly 20 or are you secretly an old person?'

A conversation with my boyfriend a few weeks back sparked a thought in my brain about how I really am old-at-heart.

I wear knitted over-sized cardigans most days and pop my slippers on as soon as I reach my front door. I have an affinity for mugs and fruit tea and crafting. I buy most of my clothes in charity shops and on eBay rather than in the likes of Topshop and River Island. One of my perfect days in would be spent with my grandmother (who's in her mid 80's might I add), hot drink in hand and a quiz show on the telly. 

Whilst most people my age are on nights out, I'd rather stay home on a Saturday in my pyjamas with a hot drink and a board game. My peers may be planning nights out to raves and clubs but, on the rare occasion I do go out, I'm buying tickets for Northern Soul all nighters. And I'd rather listen to the Beatles than Beyonce or Stevie Wonder over Stormzy. 

In the eyes of many people my age, my lifestyle is 'boring'. But I don't feel boring at all so I won't let people tell me otherwise. I'd rather live a quiet, meaningful and 'boring' life doing things which make me happy, than spend my days conforming to the expectations of me as a student in her twenties. Yes I don't fit into the student profile - or really the profile of anyone under the age of sixty - but I'm ok with that.

Monday Motivation | 3 Reasons To Love Mondays

Hello Monday!

It's a weekly occurrence: come Sunday evening social media will be full to the brim of posts damning the fact that the weekend is coming to a close and Monday is nearly upon us again.

In 2018 I'm making an effort to learn to love Mondays; to create a life in which I don't dread the start of a new week. So I'm welcoming a new series on Yours, Chloe: Monday Motivation. This series aims to share the way I'm motivating myself to kick start the week with a bang and to share my journey towards embracing Mondays as welcome occasions. This won't be a every Monday kind of series, just a here and there type of thing.

Let's kick off with my main message for this series: there are lots of reasons to love Mondays. Today I'm going to share three of them.

1. It's A Chance To Start Afresh. 

Consider how motivated society gets come the start of a new year; new year, new me and all that jazz. Now why don't we instill that mentality when it comes to the start of a new week? Monday marks the welcome of seven new days during which you can start afresh from the previous week; leaving anything negative when you turn over the new page on your calendar. 

2. Monday Is A Day Of Productivity.

Monday's are proven to be our most productive day. They're the best day to start a new habit; to get into a new routine. Be it you want to start healthy eating, or you've set a new goal at work, or maybe you're wanting to get cracking on a fitness regime... Monday is the best day to do it. So what's not to love about a day that gives you the opportunity to better yourself?

3. You Feel Refreshed.

If you've spent your weekend wisely by having a well-needed chill and recharging your batteries, you'll feel refreshed come Monday morning. Now I don't know about you, but if I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the week, I feel a million bucks (is there an English version of this phrase?). 

Let's give Mondays a chance.

Do you love Mondays? Let me know why. 

Lifestyle | Printing Memories With Printiki*

I've always loved photographs; they can speak a thousand words. Just taking a glimpse at a photo can bring back a wave of memories and help you to remember the little, but lovely, details which otherwise may have been lost to time.

Whilst I love the ease of being able to instantly snap a photo and view it to my hearts content wherever I am, it does seem a shame to keep all these lovely snapshots of life trapped in a phone. Enter Printiki, a fantastic way of insuring that your treasured photographs

I've had a dabble on a number of other photo-printing websites in the past and I have to say that Printiki has the most user-friendly site I've come across. Uploading your chosen snaps is really easy and there's lots of tools you can use to jazz your photos up a little. You can conjure up a border, add on a filter and even pop on a little caption to make note of significant dates, places or even quotes to go alongside your photo.

As we've just celebrated the day of love, I decided to be one of 'those girls' and print a selection of photos of my boyfriend and I. When scouting out photos I fancied seeing in the printed form, I realised just how little I'm able to persuade Johnny to actually smile in a photo of us. Anyone else managed to end up with a fella who doesn't like having his photo taken? At least I can definitely say that all of our 'loved up' photos show character.

I'm not too sure as of yet what the destiny of these particular prints will be. I've got so many potential DIY ideas swirling around in my head for ways to display them for the world to see. Johnny and I are moving into our first flat together in September so it would be lovely to put them up there to make the place feel homely and ours. If anyone has any ideas for ways of displaying printed photos in jazzy ways please send them my way.

Are you a fellow lover of printed photos? How do you display them?

*Disclaimer: These products were kindly gifted by Printiki, for the purpose of this review. All views and opinions shared on Yours, Chloe x are always honest and unbiased regardless of whether or not the product has been gifted to me. For further details please refer to my full disclaimer.

Happy Mind | Forgive Yourself

"Make peace with your broken pieces"

I focus too much on my mistakes. I sit and regret mistakes I made a week ago; a month ago; a year ago. It's like there's a tiny little goblin inside of my head that reminds me that I should have known better or made better decisions. How could I possibly have stupid enough to do x or to think y is a good idea? How would my life be different if z had happened instead?

But regretting your mistakes won't change the past and it definitely won't improve the future. If you waste your days kicking yourself over one little mistake you made way back when, life is going to pass you by. You might miss incredible opportunities just because you weren't willing to make a fresh start.You'd be much better off getting back up, dusting yourself off and starting again.

Self-forgiveness can be seen as a weakness but I think it's a strength. When it all comes down to it, forgiving yourself for your mistakes is considerably harder than forgiving others for their mistakes.The ability to get rid of any baggage that's preventing you from living the fabulous life you deserve, is something to be damn proud of.

Books | Why I Buy Books Secondhand

I've always bought books secondhand. I love spending my free moments browsing through charity shops, car boot sales, secondhand book shops and even the likes of eBay, to find new titles to get my nose into. Don't get me wrong, I do love the smell of a new book; there's nothing like it. But there's something so special to me about buying a pre-loved book that just beats it.

In your typical bookshop, books are organised by genre, whereas when buying second hand you're faced with a free for all of genres, with books all higgledy piggledy among each-other. Let's consider a charity shop, for example, where there's no way of predicting what you may find: a romance title may be next to a sci-fi title, a thriller next to a mystery. When browsing, you often find yourself looking at genres which are new to you, as the cover or title or synopsis catches your eye. In allowing yourself this opportunity to explore new genres,  you'll open yourself up to a world of fantasy you never normally would have ventured into.

There's also something so special about falling in love with a novel you bought secondhand. Often you will not recognise the titles you come across, and maybe not even the author, so you have to cross your fingers and toes that you'll get on with it. Then when you do connect with the story, it feels like fate brought you and this little paperback piece of magic together.

For me there is something so magical about reading a copy of a book which was once read by someone else. Chances are you'll never know who that person was but you're connected with a stranger through the written fictional word. I have a love affair with thinking about those who have read that same book before me and considering what they may have thought: will our opinions on the plot differ? Do they connect with the main character in the same way I do? These questions will of course never be answered but it allows me to consider the book from a different angle, which I find deeply interesting.

The other, less deep and meaningful but important all the same, reason as to why I prefer to buy secondhand books is the financial factor. For the price of one brand new book you can often buy two or three (or more if you're lucky) pre-loved books. That's three new worlds for you to dive into instead of just one. Seems like a simple decision to me.

Do you buy books secondhand? Where is your favourite place to buy books?