Is your relationship in the gutter?

I’m not a relationship expert –far from it. But I do know the fundamentals of making any relationship work and fail.   I could write a list of 50 but it would be too generic. I’m going to write the three reasons that most interest me and really are reasons to believe your relationship is in turmoil.

Have they introduced you to their circle of friends?

If the answer is no then the first thing to consider is the amount of time you’ve been together. If it’s only been about six months to a year I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s still early territory.

If the answer is no and it’s been way over a year or more, then take a step back and ask yourself if it’s really going anywhere.  (P.S if you haven’t introduced them to your circle of friends, then no point being a hypocrite and skip to my next point.)

I think once you’re in a relationship, you can easily forget that your friends exist. But let’s face it bros before hoes, so why hasn’t he/she introduced you yet?  My guess is there probably not sure if you’re good enough to meet his friends. I personally wouldn’t introduce my boyfriend to my friends If I didn’t see it going anywhere.

Even if you’re not bothered about meeting their friends, personally it should be the thought that they want to show you off. If it’s been over two years, then run for hills and never look back!! Just joking, but really evaluate the way the little things they do affect your self-worth.

 

 Do they put others first?

Not sure what I mean? I’ll give you a hypothetical example (or is it?)

So imagine you’re in a happy relationship with your boyfriend, life is dandy but his brother’s girlfriend likes to flirt with your boyfriend and he does nothing.

Now let’s imagine you’ve told him time after time that it’s bothering you but yet it doesn’t continue to stop, so there both making you look like a tool.

Now does that sound even remotely similar to a situation with you? And is that someone you really want to be with? I’ll let you decide that.

 

Do they support your ambitions?

There is nothing worse than being with someone who doesn’t support your goals. Luckily I’ve never been with a guy like that, but many of my friends have.

Did they remember that you had an interview, the same interview you mentioned 20 times that week? Do they keep an interest with work and how everything’s going and more importantly do they push you to be the best version of you that you can be?

If it’s not a yes then maybe you should strive to find someone more ambition orientated. It’s not essential but if you’re both driven then you can motivate each other. Supporting each other through the highs and lows is what relationships are about and if you feel alone then is it worth staying with them if your’e miserable.

 Like I said earlier there are plenty more like trust etc.. but just saying trust is a little generic. I would be really interested to read what ones you would include on my list.

Until next time

Natalie x

Awkward & embarrassing moments.

Running into someone you don’t like

This happens to ALL of us. We can’t avoid it or prevent it – we just have to deal with it.

You’ll be strolling around in joyful bliss or in misery (doesn’t actually change a thing) and BAM there they are. It’s usually the people you were glad to get rid of, or the person you least expected to see and what’s even worse – they’ve seen you too. Suddenly it becomes a scene from a western movie and you’re ready for a showdown. You have three choices.

1.    Turn around and never look back.
2.   Keep walking and pretend you haven’t noticed them.
3.   Stop to engage in boring chit-chat, or simply head nod as you walk past.

In my case I don’t even need to decide – instinctively my foot will pivot and turn around. Take that douche bags. Surely if I haven’t spoken to you in longer than a year, I’m not about to engage in a fake conversation with you.

I feel like it’s a ridiculous cliché to add here but it really is a small world.  It’s weird how we always bump into the people we desperately try to avoid (or at least that’s what happens to me)

 

Waving at someone who’s not waving at you.

I feel like you can never recover from this embarrassing situation. You’ll be forever scared. This happened to me today, I was walking around my area – Islington and this girl on the other side of the road just started waving. I turned my head twice to check if there was anyone behind me – and there wasn’t. So I started waving back because for all I knew I could have known that girl … but no. I didn’t notice the guy crossing the side of the road to meet her. It’s safe to say I started laughing at myself before breaking out into a quick walk.

The friend that doesn’t share food

If you don’t share food you will automatically become the tight friend. There’s always one person who won’t share their popcorn with you in the cinema, or the one who won’t offer you a square of their chocolate. Honey please – we are in times of crisis, help a friend out.  Unless you’re Joey you have no excuse.

It’s like in my primary school – we would all have packed lunches and we would swap our Babybel for Angel Slices, yet there would be one child who refused to share their Monster Munch crisps. Shame on you. In adult world the states are slightly higher. If you’re in a group on a night out the normal thing to do is buy a round – but there will be one who accepts the free drinks but has no money to buy for you.

If you are this person – you need to man/woman up before you end up buying your own drinks for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Shopping trolleys gone wild

This is probably the least frequent but it happens to me quite a lot. I get shopping trolleys that have minds of their own – the wheels just won’t follow my lead. If I’m going right they turn left. It makes my food shop impossible.

The worst thing about it is everyone will be able to see the struggle on my face as I try to move through the aisles.  Whenever I use an omen trolley it results in me pulling a face that’s in between constipation and confusion. Its hard work. I applaud the many of you who have had this kind of experience and haven’t given up. Hooray for us.

Those are just some of many, I hope that even if you didn’t relate to any it at least made you laugh.

Goodbye 2012

According to my maths if we don’t die on the 21st then the end of 2012 happens in 17 days. Originally I was going to save this post till New Year’s Eve to end the year on a positive, but knowing me I wouldn’t want to write this unless I’m in a good mood- and I won’t be.
For the many of you that don’t know me – I hate the holidays. You can go as far as to call me the Grinch but that’s me. However I have decided to make this post positive rather than negative.
2012 has been the quickest year of my life to date. I remember last Christmas like it was yesterday. I would be lying if I said I was going to miss 2012 – aswell as being quick, it’s been a pretty awful year. I thought it would be pretty easy to write about the downs of the year so instead I’m going to write about 12 highlights of the year. Trust me when I say this is going to be challenging.

1. In terms of transformation this year saw me celebrate a 50 pound weight loss. 50!!! It doesn’t even seem real to write that figure down but I did manage it. Losing weight boosted my confidence towards the second half of the year. If anyone is struggling with losing weight, know it can be done–it just takes time and dedication. It sounds like a cliché but its true.

Celebrating the weight loss

2. I got into university – as you know if you read the ‘about’ tab – I’m a journalism student from City University London. If you want to be a journalist and you live abroad then City is the only place to be.

3. I got a tattoo this year with the words ‘yaya’ on my right wrist. Yaya was my first word and it’s what I refer to as my gran in Spanish. But for normal people the word in Spanish is ‘abuela’.

4. On my 18^th birthday I got the most beautiful video made to me by my cousin.  It’s just flawless and the effort is insane. At some point I will try to upload it onto here so all you lovely people can see.

5. This really goes out to all of my friends. I don’t think I ever truly appreciated them as much as I have this year. Just to name a few: Chantal, Luisa, Elena, Athena, Jess, Ngoc, Kat, Sarah, Jayla, Neil, Alex and Sam – each of them have helped me in one way or another. Without them I would be completely lost. Like I said I’ve just mentioned a few, I have had a lot of support from my friends this year.

6. I FELL IN LOVE. Yes believe it or not I fell in love with the one and only PITBULL. If you follow me on Twitter you know I pest him quite a bit to follow me. Being a Latina it was bound to happen. I know he has haters but well haterz gonna hate ite?

A love like ours has no bounds

Half way done and this is proving harder as I go along.

7. I went to see Owl City with my best friend (Chantal). The concert was in October and it was the highlight of the year. The opening sets are usually a waste of time but Matthew Koma was opening for Owl City and everyone there was fixed on him. His music is just incredible and relatable. We got the chance to meet him after the concert. It was the first time I had  used the word happy in a long time – music is just the ultimate escape from reality and for 2 hours I was in a space of people who just didn’t care about what was going on outside of the concert. It also helped that Chantal got slightly drunk and professed her undying love for me.

Matthew Koma, Adam Young, Me & Chantal

 8. I’m thankful that my family haven’t had any health problems this year. It may not count as a highlight but well I’m running out of things to say.

9.  I bought tickets to see MAROON 5 AND RIHANNA. Give me a moment while I fangirl.

10. I ran a 5k in 22 minutes. The key to doing this is by imagining you’re running next to someone you dislike and trying to beat them. I won’t tell you who I was imagining though 😉

11. The codenames me and my girls made up for nights out incase we come across unwanted attention. I call myself either liza/Camden. Chantal calls herself BANIA – as in Bane from batman and Luisa calls herself Lexie.

12. This last highlight is more like a realisation – although it’s been a hard year for me for many different reasons, I feel like I’ve taken everything that came my way and made the most out of every bad situation. Sometimes we need to brave the storms because they don’t last forever. I promise

It may have taken me a few hours but the list is done!

To everyone reading my blog, I appreciate every hit I get and if you had a shitty year then know you’re not alone.

Every cloud has a silver lining and I have a good feeling that this time next year I’ll be able to write 24 highlights rather than struggle writing 12.