My Top 10 Most Liked Instagram Photos Ever

Instagram is probably my favourite social media platform. As a creative person, there's just something about being able to scroll through reams and reams of exquisitely composed, perfectly lit photographs straight from my phone which gets me very excited. The beauty of Instagram is that it's almost a mini-blog post in itself. I have no qualms in saying that I try really hard to post Instagram content that I am proud of and that is a visual representation of me, my work and my life. Particularly in the last year, I've really gotten into upping my 'Instagram game', so I thought it'd be fun to take a look at what's been most popular so far. Here are my top 10 most liked Instagram photos of all time...

20 Things I Want To Do Before I'm 20

Having just celebrated my 19th birthday, I can't help but think about the fact that this is my last year as a teenager. I have to admit, it's a very scary thought that this time next year I'll be in my twenties. I'll no longer be a something-teen, I'll be a twenty-somthing, and that's pretty daunting. So, for my last teenage year I thought I'd set out a list of 20 things I want to do or achieve by my 20th birthday. Some of them are just small things that I've been meaning to do for months or even years and just never gotten around to, while others are life changing decisions which will affect where I live for the next phase of my life. Hopefully in a years time I'll be writing about how I achieved all of the following...

1. Be studying on the degree that's right for me
2. Go to Chicago
3. Go to Glastonbury Festival
4. Get my eyebrows done professionally
5. Finish my art foundation and (fingers crossed) achieve a distinction
6. Really, properly clear out my wardrobe
7. Reach 100 Bloglovin' followers
8. Learn to meditate
9. Make a vision board
10. Start learning how to hand letter
11. Consider getting THAT tattoo if I still like the idea a year from now
12. Move out
13. Have a weekend away somewhere new
14. Go to a spa
15. Get to and maintain a weight I am happy with
16. Declutter
17. Wear more heels and lipstick
18. Start a regular personal sketchbook and keep it up
19. Get my hair cut
20. Go go-karting, swimming, rock climbing, walking, running & play some badminton

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19 Things In 19 Years

So today is my 19th birthday *yay*! I feel like 19 is a bit of a funny one; you've done all of the big celebrations that come with your 18th, and you have a while to wait until the big 2-1. With that in mind I don't have huge plans to celebrate this year, just a nice meal with my family and a night out in town with my friends. But I thought I'd begin my last year as teenager by sharing 19 lessons I have learnt in my 19 years on this earth. I'm certainly not saying that I have all the worlds wisdom, but these are just a few snippets I've discovered along my journey so far. Here goes...

1. Not taking the easy option pays off in the long term
2. Experiences are more valuable than possessions
3. Worrying changes nothing
4. Death doesn't care who you are
5. People change
6. There comes a point when you realise the way your parents built you isn't enough - and they don't ALWAYS know best
7. Regret is almost entirely pointless
8. Time heals
9. Pain often leads to the biggest growth 
10. Politeness is important, and it always gets rewarded
11. Forgiving people makes you feel lighter 

12. The way things are right now is not the way they will always be

13. Not everybody will understand the value in art
14. There is no shame in enjoying your own company
15. There will always be somebody who doesn't like you, so you might as well be yourself
16. Stepping outside your comfort zone is a good thing
17. Everything seems worse at night
18. Your school years are NOT the best of your life
19. Empathy is a very valuable tool

Do you agree or disagree with anything on my list? And what lessons have you learnt in your life so far?
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15 Things To Do Every Day To Stay Creative In 2015

Staying creative is a bit like an athlete keeping themselves in shape. If you stop training, like an athletes fitness level, your creativity will gradually slump back to square one. Maintaining your creativity takes work and requires a conscious effort. So I thought I would devise a list of 15 things you should do every day try and have a go at doing every day in 2015 to keep your creative juices flowing throughout the year ahead.

 1. Stop trying to please everyone

2. Write on non-lined paper

3. Check for new upcoming exhibitions and events (and arrange to go!) 

4. Walk a different route 

5. Join forces 

6. Drop everything and sketch right now
7. Stop trying to be a great artist
8. Make lots of mistakes
9. Take praise well
10. Take criticism well
11. Stop scrolling
12. Read the news
13. Watch a documentary about something you know nothing about
14. Go outside
15. Never stick with what you know

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How To Have A Productive Day

1. Write A To Do List The Evening Before
As I've mentioned before, I'm one of those people that are very into making lists. If I write all my 'to dos' down on paper, I find it helps stop them scrabbling around in my head and I can actually get on with doing them. If you have a particularly busy day ahead of you, I find the best time to write your to do list is the evening before. You've finished your work for that day, so you know exactly where you stand for tomorrow, yet you're not using up any precious time in the morning brainstorming all the things you need to get done (and probably causing yourself more panic than is needed in the process!).

2. Wake Up To Your Alarm First Time
I know this is a tough one, and I may be being just a tiny weeny bit hypocritical including this, however it really does put you in the right frame of mind to be productive from the outset. When you pull back your covers and jump out of bed first time your alarm goes off (ok, maybe jumping out is asking a little bit to much..), you almost feel as if you've gained some time from nowhere that simply didn't exist before. Of course in reality that time has existed in the past, we've just all been using it to catch the last few minutes of that dream where we married Bradley Cooper.. or whatever it is you may do with your time on the pillow. 

3. Make Your Bed
There's nothing that makes me feel more like a grown up respectable adult than making my bed the moment I get up. It's almost as if i'm over the first hurdle and I've completed a task already. There's also the whole idea of tidy room, tidy mind and it actually does hold some truth. Getting on with work seems much more manageable in a clean and tidy space.

4. Make The Most Of The Morning
Never underestimate the power of your first few hours awake. They have the power to set the pace and overall mood for the entire day. Say you find yourself having lunch at 1pm having done not very much so far, it'll probably be well into the afternoon before you've actually made a decent start on your tasks. On the other hand, if you woke up at 8am and worked solidly until 1pm, you'll feel much more accomplished and motivated to carry on through the afternoon (that is if you haven't finished already!).

5. Focus On One Thing At A Time
I'm a big worrier. I fret 24/7 about things that will probably never happen and this overspills into my work life. If I have say 5 reasonably large things to do in one day, instead of taking it one thing at a time, I'll dabble in one thing before my mind wonders onto worrying about another. MORE HASTE LESS SPEED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. If I force myself not to even think about another task before the one at hand is finished, I find I get my workload done much faster overall. Plus, if you don't attempt to do a bit of everything at once, you'll be able to tick off whole tasks much quicker which can give you a big boost and sense of achievement. 

5 Ways To Make Use Of Your Commute

An average week at uni for me consists of full working days from Monday-Thursday, and a self directed study day on Friday (which I usually spend at home..*guilty face*). I commute to and from uni by train which takes 30 minutes each way, meaning I spend 1 hour per day on trains at least 4 days a week. That’s not even including all that time I clock up waiting on the platform! I’ll let you do the maths on that one but ultimately the result is a lot of time wasted on flappy bird. 

In fact, the average UK employee now spends roughly 4 hours 40 minutes a week on their journey to and from work. I’ll be honest, for a long time I was guilty of wasting that time on sitting, thinking about not very much, and generally trying not to make eye contact with anyone. But then I'd get home, get started on all my work and regret all that wasted time. I'm an art student, so in general the train isn't the most practical place to get uni work done, however, there are other things that I just don't get the chance to do as I always seem to be busy in the evenings. Time to make use of that 4 hours of dead time!

1. Read

Here it comes, straight in at number 1, use your commute as a chance to read. It seems like something pretty obvious, but for me its one I really need to start doing! One of my new years resolutions was to read more, and in a way I have succeeded in that I started off the year full on intent and got a few books read very quickly, more than I had read the entire previous year. However, that sort of tailed of as I reached the final stages of my a-levels and I haven't picked it back up again since. I don't think we can or should underestimate what regular reading does for the brain, and train time is the perfect opportunity to read, something many of us claim not to have time to do. 

2. Make A To Do List
I'm a big list person. A real 'lists about lists' kind of girl. In fact, you can tell if I'm really excited about something if I start making multiples lists about it. But you don't have to be a list-aholic to write a simple to do list, and your daily commute is the perfect time to do it. Look forward to the day/week ahead and go through everything that needs to be done, prioritise if it's a super busy one! Once I have a list written down in ink on paper, I find I can stop concentrating on all the messy thoughts in my head about everything that needs doing and when, and start concentrating on actually getting on and doing it!

3. Learn
How many of us say we wish we had time to learn something new, for example, a language? There are now hundreds of thousands of podcasts available to download for free, covering subjects from language to history to the arts to health to science. Even if you drive to work, this is something which you can do during your commute. Have a scout around on the Podcasts app and find something that interests you personally. You never know, you might be speaking french by Christmas...

4. Tie Up Loose Ends
I've already mentioned that as an art student, it can be difficult to compete any work I have during my commute, and this can be the case for many people in many different professions. But I am of the belief that there is always something you can be doing. Try to get all those little 1 or 2 minute tasks done that seem to build up over the course of a few days. Reply to that e-mail, return that call or do a quick google search on something you've been meaning to look up. Tying up all those odds and ends will clear the bulk of your day for bigger tasks.  

5. Play Games To Sharpen Your Mind 

And finally, if you really can't tear yourself away from games on your phone, try to swap them for something more stimulating for your brain, like Sudoku. Some researchers believe that playing mentally stimulating games such as this may help reduce the risk of age related memory loss. Not bad for a quick commute time killer!