WHAT I'M DOING IN ISOLATION

As much as I wish I could be outside in the glorious sun, having fun with friends and family, given the scary and uncertain state of the country, I am following government guidelines and staying at home for the forseeable future.  As of yesterday, my work has also moved all of us to home and so I really am not leaving my house anytime soon apart from doing the shopping for my family and walking my dogs. Therefore, I thought I would share my list of the main things that I want to do during my time at home. This could either be a very over ambitious list or a very basic list but seeing as we don't know when we will be let out to socialise anytime soon, I thought I'd set myself a few challenges and new things to try. I'd love to know your suggestions in the comments and if you would like a part two to this post then let me know as I am sure I will be doing a lot more than just this.

Organising my room(s)

Especially with it being spring time, there is not better excuse then to sort out your entire room. With my exams having been cancelled now also, it is probably a good idea to sort out my office space and to get rid of all of the ALevel work that I am not going to need anymore. Please don't worry, I am not getting rid of all of my work just yet, but I do plan to move it into storage just for safe keeping. I don't know about you, but I love sorting things out, getting organised and just feeling like I have my life together, so organising my room seems like a perfect thing to get lost in right now. Especially the wardrobe. I am definitely in for a big purge when it comes to my wardrobe but later in this post, you will see that I plan to put some of my old pieces to good use. Like I said earlier, I would also love to reorganise my office space into something much more minimal and to turn it into a place where I can not only do academic work but also where I can blog. I am definitely going to be ordering some new bits soon and reoganising the whole space which I will record and share on here once it is all done.

Have a clear out

This one kind of goes with the whole organising room thing, but just generally getting rid of things I no longer need. Whether that be clothes, academic work, books or random stuff, I just want to get rid of it all and have a clear space for me to fully function in because right now, everything is buldging out of everywhere.

Read more

My reading year did not get off to the best start and so I would really like to crack on with meeting my target of reading 25 books this year. I still think it is possible, but I woud love to exceed it and read all of the books that I've had on my shelves for months. There is definitely a lot on my TBR now in terms of fiction but I do also want to read more educational books and read about new topics and ideas to widen my knowledge.

Finish my ALevel courses

Just for the sake of completetion and satisfying myself, I do want to finish my ALevel courses. This is just the case for both sides of my history course and also the further maths pure course. Especially as I may be going to university to study maths in September, I do want to finish my further maths course just to keep me on top of my knowledge and learn what will be essential for university level. With history though, I just want to learn what would have been needed for my exams. I have made great revision content for history especially and that is something I would like to complete so that I can pass it onto people who would be able to make use of that in the next couple of years.

Expand my knowledge

Quite a wide point to make, but I would really love to learn a couple of new things during my time at home. Not on an academic level but just learn about things of personal interest to me. Business and fashion are the two main topics I am planning to learn more about through books, online content and also some online courses so as well as taking up a lot of my time, I will be making it productive by learning something useful and interesting to me.

Upcycle old clothes

Like I said earlier, going through my wardrobe and getting rid of some items is the perfect excuse for me to expand my upcycling and sewing skills by giving some of my old clothes a new look. I love doing this and it is definitely one of my favourite creative outlets so I am very excited to give it my full attention.

Fall back in love with art

I can't lie when I say that fine art ALevel really has sucked some of the fun out of art for me but I do want to get it back. I have incomplete art ALevel work that I would really love to finish at some stage but to also just draw, sketch and paint for the fun of it, with no deadlines or restrictions. My friends and I have decided to set up an art club, where we pick a theme, do a piece of art and show each other while we are in self isolation which is something that is going to keep me going and keep me inspired for a while.

Make more online content

My blog and Instagram are two things which I really want to improve on and become more active on. As much as I have loads of ideas currently, it is putting them into practice and making the content one bit at a time which is something that I haven't done in a really long time. I am going to really try and make a routine out of it, while I have the time. Going self-hosted is something I also really want to do and since I am going to have loads of time to learn, I think now would be a great time to do it, but a lot of research is needed, however, if you have any useful pieces of advice about going self-hosted then please let me know.

Sell old clothes

Also with going through my wardrobe, I plan to sell a lot of the clothes that remain wearable and in good condition. Not only to bring in a little extra money in but to just keep busy and minimise what remains in my wardrobe. 

Make a fashion portfolio

I have a huge interest in fashion and as well as learning about it, I also want to create my own. From sketches to samples to garments, I really want to learn and create over this time. I plan to create my own sort of portfolio and sketchbook just to keep me creative but to also inspire me for when this calms down. I'd love to learn to construct garments properly and I love to design my own pieces so starting now, that is one of my top goals to achieve, especially for by the end of this year.

Once again, I'd love to know your plans for isolation in the comments!

Stay safe,

Grace 

A LONG AWAITED UPDATE

Hello everyone,

It feels very weird to be sat down writing this post. Mostly because it's been a while, but also given the circumstances of this post. What I wanted to talk about today was where I am at right now and what I have been up to over the last month or so. However, before getting into all of that, I want you all to know that I am sending all the positive vibes I have left, your way. I hope you are all coping during this difficult time and I will be available if anybody needs someone to talk to.

I'll start with what I've been up to. As most of you will know, I am currently in year 13, my final year of education and so the last few months have been pretty crazy for me. I guess why I went so quiet on social media over this time was not only my workload getting heavier but also how I was coping with the stress, it was becoming unhealthy and so I came to the decision that I would take a break from blogging and that area of social media, just while I get through my exams. Obviously, I am back sooner than I would have anticipated but I guess I will talk about that now. 

I'm sure you all know, and you don't need me to explain it once again but COVID-19 has become very serious and very high-spread within the UK over the last couple of weeks. I don't want to talk about it a whole lot as I think we all need a bit of a distraction but it has completely transformed my life in the space of a couple of days and that's something I need to explain. Like I said earlier, I am in year 13 and last Wednesday, the government announced the closure of all schools and the cancellation of all May and June exams this year. What this means for me is that I am no longers sitting ALevel exams and yesterday (Friday) was my last ever day of education. This has all happened over the last couple of days and so it is still really difficult for me to comprehend right now, which I think is how a lot of people are feeling at this given time, but I wanted to get this post up quickly. With obviously having an abrupt end to my education, it is a very disheartening time for a lot of people, myself included but something I want to clarify is that I still believe that this was the right decision in regards to closing down schools. I am in full support of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and I plan to play my part in that. However, what it now means for me, is that I have an extremely long break between year 13 and university (if that is what I decide to do) and with a lot of that time being spent at home, I am starting to put things in play that are going to keep me occupied. Obviously, this blog has been neglected for quite some time and I have never really been able to give it the attention it deserves and that is one of the main things I plan to do with my time at home. I am definitely going to be posting content more frequently and to a higher standard, my Instagram should become more active and I can finally be that content provider that I have wanted to be for a really long time. The other things I get up to are also going to be posted on here or Instagram so in summary, I just wanted to post this to let you all know that I am back. 

There will be a post coming in the next couple of days so stay tuned for that and like I said, you are going to be seeing a lot more from me very soon so please stick around. I hope you are all doing well though, given the awful conditions of the world right now I think it is times like this that we need to be here for each other and so if anyone does want someone to talk to, I am available through different social media and also my email (gracexkatex@gmail.com), so please feel free to drop me a message.

Stay safe,

Grace xx