This week's freebie isn't really a freebie - but it was for me so it still counts ☺

We've all heard of or at least seen Moleskine notebooks either on TV, on the tube or while perusing the notebooks aisle in WH Smiths.

I've wanted a Moleskine for ages but couldn't bear to buy one as they're pretty expensive!

Luckily, the company that I work for gives out the Moleskine notebooks with our company's name engraved in them so that students/grads remember how fab they are.

While volunteering at a recruitment fair a few months ago, I managed to snag one as some people hadn't turned up. Their loss was most certainly my gain!

One of my work colleagues wasn't able to help out at the event, but as he's making (even more) positive changes in his life he wanted a Moleskine to track his efforts. There's a fresh Moleskine store 5 minutes away from our office so we popped out to it during a break

He bought two Moleskine notebooks - the most memorable being this Homer Simpson one.

When you shop at a Moleskine store, instead of taking your purchases out in a plastic carrier bag, you get one of these cool recyclable bags.

I was so jealous of my friend's new bag so I asked for my own. The girl in the store said they normally don't give them away but as my friend bought two notebooks, a bag per book isn't unheard of.

Tip to takeaway from this story: If you want something, just ask for it! There's a 50% chance the answer will be yes!

I've often heard people raving about Chai Tea Latte's but never really understood what all the hype was about. That was until I popped my Chai Tea Latte 'ginity earlier this week - I am now in love!

As a lover of Starbucks' cappuccinos, I thought that it was about time my loyalty was rewarded so I joined My Starbucks Rewards. Little did I know, before you even get a chance to buy a drink... you're rewarded with a free Tall one, hence me popping my Chai Tea Latte 'ginity.

Clearly, it's a marketing ploy - once you try a drink, the hope is that you'll love it and come back (as a paying customer this time).

I'll try my utmost to fight against this as Chai Tea Lattes are around the £3 mark - hardly a bargain worthy of everyday purchase... but believe me they are pretty damn good ☺

So I've just come back from a long weekend away in Valencia, Spain. While I've been to Spain before, this was the first time I'd gone abroad alone. And by alone, I do mean alone alone - nope, I didn't stay with relatives, or meet anyone at the airport in Valencia.

The experience was amazing - I've never felt so free in all my life and it's really sparked my desire to continue travelling, albeit alone.

Here are 5 reasons why (in my experience) travelling alone is the best way to travel.

#1. There's no one around to annoy you!

I think it's fair to say that whenever we spend too much time with someone, after a while every little thing that they do starts to annoy us! There's no fixed amount of time that we can tolerate a person for before they become annoying (well not in my case, anyway), but after a while they just do.
When you travel alone, unless you get into a scuffle with the locals, only you can truly annoy yourself ☺

#2. You can wake up whenever you like! 

On my first full day in Valencia I was shattered! I slept through about three alarms, sadly missing breakfast - I was g u t t e d - BUT I had no one nagging me to get up. It was true bliss (especially as my bed was SO snug). When I eventually surfaced at just gone 12, I was able to get ready in my own time without the hassle of trying to fit into someone else's schedule for the day.

#3 You can eat (or not eat) whatever you like!

When it comes to food I'm super picky. Don't get me wrong, I love my meals but I have to find the one before I can say that I'm satisfied. While away I walked past soooooo many eateries on my quest to find the one. After walking around in circles for what seemed like forever, my own indecisiveness started to grate on me ever so slightly, so you can only imagine how irritating it would've been for someone else to have to endure. Plus, when you're with other people you have to consider their preferences too - 2 (or more) equally indecisive + hungry people = 2 (or more) increasingly grouchy people which leads to arguments!

Taco Bell may not be to everyone's liking...

#4 You can do whatever you like!

My plans for each day pretty changed with my mood, what time I woke up and also how lost I got (if lost at all) on the way to somewhere else. Again, like with finding somewhere to eat, when you're planning how to spend your day and are with others, you have to consider what they want to do to. We're all generally polite people but we know that if someone says "I don't mind", they really do mind and since it's rare for everyone involved to really be happy, there's always the risk of a bit of group tension ensuing.

I thought it was cool that there was a place called "America" in Spain, so I got off the bus to take a picture..

#5 You can ride (or walk) around town like a boss listening to your favourite songs without being interrupted.

Biking The Turia Gardens listening to Spotify playlists containing a b s o l u t e bangers like Here Comes the Hotstepper with the sun shining down, wind blowing through my clothes and shades on...
There are no words to describe how awesome and unstoppable I felt. While it would've been a nice experience to share with others, I can't quite help but think that I wouldn't have felt as epic as I did... there's something special about a pair of earphones being in and the volume being turned up super loud ☺

Tunes in my ears, selfie stick in hand...

#6 You can get lost (and it'll be ok!)

While biking back to my hotel I decided to take various detours - I say detours but I hadn't the faintest idea where I was going haha - via the main streets of Valencia discovering beautiful sites along the way and also finding out how different parts of the city are linked to one another. Things that I would've otherwise missed if I'd followed the same route back. Of course you can get "lost" while with other people, but more risk averse travellers might not feel as comfortable about the idea of getting lost in a foreign country.

Torres de Serranos

A backstreet leading to Valencia Cathedral...

Have any of you guys travelled alone before and experienced epic moments that have made you fall in love with travelling alone?

If so, please feel free to share below! x

This is the first post of my first series on this blog - Liv's life lessons -  as my gap year has been full of lessons that I really want to share!

We've all heard the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover" but how many of us actually live by this mantra?

No matter how hard I try, I know that I don't always...

So I haven't posted on here in ages for the sheer fact that I deliberately sought out to take pictures of my outfits/jumble sale bargains. Considering that one of my goals for this year was to post at least 50 times, yet I've posted less than 1/5th that amount, it's safe to say I've failed. 

I haven't failed because I've been purposefully lazy, it's just a case of me being highly self-conscious and not wanting to have pictures of me/my outfits taken in public. Crazy I know! And if you know me in real life you'll find that pretty hard to believe as I "come across as very confident and sure of myself" but I'm really not. One of my goals for 2015 is definitely going to be to work on becoming more confident in my own skin.

I stumbled across the manifesto above when pinning religiously at 2am this morning, as you do. I really value each and every point Rachel's raised and will definitely try to incorporate them into daily life as I struggle with almost all of them anyway.

Some other goals for 2015 include:

☐ Lose two stone
- I've gained quite a bit of weight since starting at sixth form/working full-time. Although I used to row/take part in other compulsory physical exercise while at sixth form, comfort eating prevailed especially in the run up to exam season(s).

☐ Engage in a week-long phone detox from my beloved phone
- My phone is definitely like a tablet to me - the addictive kind, not your average Nexus 
7 haha! A week without it will be interesting and definitely take me out of my comfort zone!

☐ Post on here at least three times a month
- 2015 is going to be a phenomenal year in terms of travel, voluntary work, me starting university... the list is endless. There will be no excuse for me not to document it here!☺

☐ Read 19 new books ~ excluding those that I have to read for my course at university
- I just don't read enough! This year I read two amazing books by Zadie Smith: On Beauty and NW - both I cannot recommend highly enough. Zadie is definitely one of my favourite authors and I can't wait to finish off reading the rest of her works. I've also got a few bestsellers knocking around my room that should have been read a while back. (I chose 19 books to read as I turn 19 next year ☺)

☐ Improve my German
- German is such a funny language to me, but I absolutely love it! Since studying it at GCSE I've flirted with the idea of improving my vocabulary and while I can ask a few funny questions such as whether you are "kaugummi kauen?" (chewing chewing gum), I'd like to be able to say a lot more!

☐ Spend 3 weeks abroad in a country/countries that I've never been to before
- I want to travel! I'm off to Valencia next week and even though I've been to Spain before - it's my first solo trip! I've never travelled somewhere alone i.e. not stayed with relatives/anyone I know so that should be interesting! I'm also looking to go to Bolivia in the Summer + my sights are set on Oz, Canada and a few other European countries too.

☐ Get another piercing
- When applying to Cambridge I jokingly said that if I got in, I'd get a nose piercing. I half-believed I wouldn't get in but half-hoped that I would so I could justify the piercing. Now that I have got in... I still haven't got my piercing haha. My mom and dad are anti-it but I've always been a little rebel. If not a nose piercing, I definitely want to get the top of my ears pierced... or I could get both! 

☐ Declutter my room
- My parents, my room and I have been in a love-hate relationship for years. Each month I have a mass "tidy up" and my parents are impressed and hope that "it stays like that". But of course it never has. I've too much junk in my room - I'm definitely a hoarder, but I need to live and let go. I hope to halve the contents of my desk, wardrobes and shelves and hopefully my room will be able to stay tidy for longer than 5 minutes in future!

☐ Improve my relationship with Money
- I haven't completely fallen off of the wagon, but I've definitely relinquished my title as Queen of the Jumble to some extent! Since I've started working full-time, I've spent ferociously and lived like there's no tomorrow. Getting back in touch with my thrifty roots is something that's essential especially if I'm going to survive life as a student!

Ok so I think I've gone on enough about myself, it's almost 3.30 and I need to be up for work in just over 3 hours... eek! Excuse any typos/grammatical errors made, it is 3am after all :p

What are some of your goals for 2015? I'd really love to here all about them! 

I hope 2015 is uber magical for you all!

Much love, 

Liv xx