I’ve teamed up with the guys over at Northern Teas to bring you some great gift ideas, or you might even want to treat yourself. Obviously we all want to feel fresh as we start the New Year and green tea is without a doubt the way to go. You can use green tea instead of detox teas and get plenty of the same benefits.

These green teas are calorie free and are tasty and excellent quality. They are so much better than the ones you get in the supermarket. The ones that I got sent are Ti Quan Yin, Japanese Sencha Fukujyu and Japanese Gyokuro,

Ti Quan Yin

This is a fine quality Chinese Oolong green tea that originates from southern china, and the leaves are rolled tightly into little balls. It takes 3 to 5 minutes for the tea to brew, which is pretty average for green tea. It is a pleasant, aromatic and refined tea. It is one that can be enjoyed at any time of the day.

Sencha Fukujyu

This is also known as Green Spider Leg, because of the look of the tealeaves. It has a sweet, grassy taste but it is a smooth texture. It originates in China but is processed Japanese style. It has a short brew time of 2 to 3 minutes. The leaves are neat, flat green and stalks, flecked with hints of yellow. Indulge in a cup of this at the end of the day, I know I will be.

Japanese Gyokuro

This is a variety of Ryokucha, it is picked during the first round of harvest and shaded from the sun for some time before the harvest. This gives a delightful flavour with a very delicate, pale liquor. This again takes 2 to 3 minutes to brew, and it also has neat, flat green leaves and stalks, flecked with hints of yellow. It has sweet, mild and a very smooth flavour with a pale yellow liquor. This should also be indulged at the end of the day, looks like I’ll be alternating between this and Sencha Fukujyu.

Prices vary from £4.50 to £7.50 for 50g of these teas. This is due to the origin of the teas and the quality, so it’s worth the money! These are a fantastic Christmas present, don’t forget to get your tea strainers as all the teas are loose and I’d also recommend getting a teapot to make it that little bit more special!

PS. Don't forget all views are my own, and we all know how much I love green tea so you know it's the truth!

November

It’s almost the end of the year which obviously means Christmas but also the beginning of the New Year.

I do enjoy the build up to Christmas, as the lights get switched on and it gets dark really early. The shop windows are decorated really festive and the light pours out on the street, I love it!

I plan my presents out so well for Christmas, I like to put a lot of thought and love into them. I way prefer buying for other people than myself; I’m super kind like that.

Seeing as it’s coming to the end of the year, I thought that now would be a great time to declutter and get rid of lots of things that I don’t need as by the time it’s December I will be getting into the swing of Christmas and getting ready for the festivities. This also means that when it comes to January I’ll already have a clean slate and I won’t need to start the year by doing that!

This month also brings 6 months of blogging, how crazy is that! But I’m going to do a whole other blog post about that in the middle of the month!

I’ve got so many exciting things to share with you this month!

Life: the ‘reality vs. expectations’

Since I was about 15 or 16 I have had expectations of how my life would pan out, at the time I called it my 10 year plan. I always thought I would have graduated university by now, in some kind of accounting job and living in London. In 5 years time (by the time I’m 26) I wanted to have a husband and my first child.

I know, it’s completely crazy. I do realise now that these expectations are far from my reality. For a start I’m still in uni and I know that I don’t want a job in accounting. Of course, I would love to live in central London but with the rent prices crazy high and way out of my budget, it’s a good job I’m happy in Kingston!

When it comes to a husband and children, I’ve previously said that this is something that I will let happen on it’s own. I can’t expect something so big to happen when I’m not sure what the future holds yet!

Something that I’m learning more and more everyday is that I cannot look far into the future and expect so much to happen. So I am seeing the reality of certain things, and I am living in the present and focusing on what is important right now.

Sure you may think this is ridiculous but for me it is right and the way that I manage to keep myself motivated and keep going. Don’t get me wrong I am planning lots of adventures over the next few months and I finally get to start my travelling adventure! I also get to cross quite a few things off of my bucket list.

For me, this is how I’ve decided to live my life for the meantime, I get to do things that I really want to do and I’ve planned a few more things that I want to do should I get back into university (that’s a whole other story). Now that I’ve really found my creative side I want to take full advantage of it and use it to its full potential! I mean why not? I’ve finally found something that I really enjoy that I can do everyday for fun!

My point is, that at 21 I have realised that my expectations do not always fit into reality, which is absolutely fine by me! Life wouldn’t be any fun if we knew how it was going to end, right?

What are your expectations of life?