WTF?! It’s like November never even happened!
We’ll start, as usual, with all the stuff that happened on the HowToGYST highway this November, before finishing up with the highlights (and lowlights) from my personal life this month.
Let’s just jump right into the social media milestones, shall we?
- Facebook: over 650 followers! I’m (optimistically) hoping for 800 by the end of the year.
- Twitter: almost 400 followers. I’ve started focusing more on this over the past few days so am hoping it will grow a lot more by the end of the year.
- Pinterest: almost 1,100 followers. A fellow blogger recently advised to ignore Pinterest… Are you kidding?!
- Instagram: almost 600 followers.
- YouTube: over 650 subscribers. Also (optimistically) hoping for 800 by the end of the year.
(I actually hit 666 Facebook ‘likes’ and 666 YouTube subscribers on the same day. Spent the rest of the day waiting for the four horsemen. 😛 )
If you’re on any of those platforms and you feel like giving me a virtual hug, click the links and give me a like/follow/whatever. 🙂
Speaking of YouTube, here are the videos I uploaded in November:
- The KonMari Method: The Attic — the first part is pretty miserable, but the second is a little more uplifting… and embarrassing;
- How To Reach Your Goals — this is the simple but incredibly effective trick I use to get me closer to my goals;
- The (Irish) Accent Tag — I get so many comments on my Irish accent so, when I came across the Accent Tag, I knew I had to do it; and
- Christmas Gift Ideas — under €20, under €50, under €100, and “I’m filthy stinking rich”.
Give those videos a squizz and, for more motivational videos or just to follow my journey as I get my shit together, be sure to subscribe to me on YouTube.
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Here on the site, I had a whole host of great posts. First out of the box was my “You Version2.0 — Upgrade Your Life”. This was all about taking your life to the next level. Ignoring the hum-drum in favour of the hum-dingers. It was an odd one for me because it took me a long time to write and, even when I published it, I still wasn’t 100% happy with it. And then I got several messages from people saying it had such a huge impact on them. So there ya go.
Next up was my post on how I got on with the KonMari Method in the attic, to coincide with the YouTube video. I can’t tell you how happy I was to have that out of the way, ‘cause holy jaysus it’s cold and uncomfortable up there!
Then I had the good fortune to find the “16 Before 2016” challenge (the original idea is the brainchild of Lisa Jacobs but I found it on BohoBerry.com). Basically, they’re like pre-resolutions. You write a list of 16 things you want to do before 2016 hits, so you can tie up all the loose ends of this year. Here’s my list, but hit up the blog post to see a brief explanation of what each one means to me:
Because November was such a jam-packed month for me, I started to struggle a little. So I wrote a post about 6 things to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed, to help you calm down and get shit done. The tips have been working a treat for me so, if you’ve got a lot on your plate, I’d highly recommend checking it out and putting them into practice.
And finally, for the season that it’s in, I wrote a list of Christmas gift ideas. But this one had a bit of a twist because, with my journey towards minimalism, I wanted to share some clutter-free gifts. Everything on the list (and there are LOTS of great ideas) either takes up no space at all or is designed to be used up, but all of them are still extremely thoughtful. Basically, gift-giving without the guilt.
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And finally, let’s turn to the November happenings at home.
Sadly, a few horrible, stressful things happened this month. First, my husband’s aunt’s house was burgled. The criminal in question not only stole her stuff and smashed up her house, but the sick bastard beat her beautiful dog with a big rock. The dog, thankfully, will make a full recovery, and the rest of it is just stuff (albeit irreplaceable), but it was an upsetting, frustrating, angering, and frightening situation, and the man responsible, though witnessed by several neighbours, is still roaming the streets. Hopefully it’s only a matter of time before he’s apprehended, because it’s sad to think that he might be out there harming more lives.
And then one of my parents’ dogs, Molly, went missing. She was gone for 3 days and we were all extremely upset and worried. She’s a pure-breed Collie so we suspected she’d been stolen. We spread the word (and her picture) far and wide, and were keeping a close eye on selling sites. Thankfully, a jeep pulled up outside my parents’ house one morning and dropped the dog at the gate before driving away. We have no idea what happened (though we have our suspicions). She was scared, and covered in muck and dirt, but otherwise fine and we were all just so relieved to have her home.
On a lighter side, I started a digital marketing course this month! I have big plans for the site in 2016 and really felt it was time I started investing in it. So I spent some money on various different things, the course being one of them. It’s a “bootcamp” course so incredibly intensive. I’m learning an absolute shit-tonne and, all going well, I’ll have a diploma in digital marketing by the end of January!
I also attended BloggerConf on November 22nd, my first blogging conference. It was on here in Dublin and I went with my good friend Blaithin. We heard some amazing speakers, met some great people, attended some incredible masterclasses, and just generally soaked up the inspiration and the atmosphere.
And both my dad and my brother have birthdays in November! HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
And that’s pretty much that. It’s coming up to my absolute favourite time of year. We’re heading to get our Christmas tree this week, so the place is about to be decked in a bit more than just holly. December will be a crazy month for me, but in the best possible way. Not only will I be rushing to wrap up my “16 Before ’16” list and the KonMari Method (eek!), but I’ll also be up to my eyeballs in assignments for my course, as well as Christmas shopping, writing, recording, editing, planning some great content for the New Year, and putting some wheels in motion for a life-changing, electrifying 2016!
So next month, as well as my monthly wrap-up, I’ll be doing a yearly review of all the highlights, and sharing some hopes and dreams plans for the coming year. I can’t wait!
