January 2018 | Recap

Just when I thought I was getting away with a mild winter in Michigan, I woke up to a full-on blizzard and 8 inches of snow!! I hope you guys are enjoying whatever wintery weather you’re having. ANYWAY. Welcome to the first monthly recap of 2018!

In 2017, I met my goal of doing a recap every month (you can see them all here), and I’m pretty proud of that! I want to keep it going for 2018 – but in an effort not to get bored, and also because things are changing around this part of the internet… I’ve introduced a couple new headings. Just read on to see what’s new!

Where was I in January?

Michigan, New York City

Most popular Instagram in January…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd6HJUKB6PG/?hl=en&taken-by=endlessdistances 

January adventured like…

• January was my first full month back living in the USA. Of course, I still miss England and my traveling lifestyle, but in all honesty I was ready to stop the longterm traveling – thanks to some health issues that were getting too big to ignore (read more on that here).
• With all my new Doctors visits and diagnoses, I have been very focused on my health. Which brings me to my announcement that I will be writing a lot more wellness content in 2018… consider it my new niche!! Please let me know any specific topics you want to see, or any questions you have for me.
• New things in 2018 were: weightlifting and pottery! Hopefully I’ll get better at both in February, lol.
• Of course, I have to mention that I did spend a week in NYC!!! I haven’t written much about it on le blog because, well, is there anything about the Big Apple that isn’t already on the internet?! But I had a great time – ate lots of gluten free food, got to see my college friends and some family I hadn’t seen in years, saw Walk the Moon (who we went to college with, so it was quite cool to see them on a massive stage in NYC!!), and generally had an amazing time.

January read like…

• Omg I got a Kindle and Goodreads and my reading life is transformed!!! You can check out my Goodreads here – friend me!
• I also joined one of my favorite bloggers, Carolann’s, Beyond Bloggers facebook group and I’m hoping this inspires me to continue on this reading spree I am currently on (If you want a kick in the butt to read in 2018 – join that facebook group)!
• So this month I read [amazon_textlink asin=’1405923911′ text=’Good Me, Bad Me’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’3df00218-054d-11e8-97d4-b57ee35e41ca’] by Ali Land, [amazon_textlink asin=’1784701742′ text=’The Girls’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’4cefbaed-054d-11e8-9fa1-6ba2fdf64c6b’] by Emma Cline, [amazon_textlink asin=’B00BW8TAYG’ text=’The Shadow of the Wind’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’598529f5-054d-11e8-8f62-ebd936b15d2d’] by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, [amazon_textlink asin=’B00QATH8KU’ text=’Sharp Objects’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’64ac158a-054d-11e8-9836-37f45f116e86′] by Gillian Flynn, and [amazon_textlink asin=’0753827034′ text=’Dark Places’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’6bc20c72-054d-11e8-97a0-713daaa7637c’] by Gillian Flynn.  As well as some medical books which I won’t go into details on (yet)!
• I’m in a thriller stage at the moment, so my favorite was definitely [amazon_textlink asin=’0753827034′ text=’Dark Places’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’71c078e9-054d-11e8-b0b7-376a3e0e7f52′] by Gillian Flynn although I enjoyed both of her books – surprising myself as I (unpopular opinion) did not like Gone Girl! The most disappointing of the books I read was [amazon_textlink asin=’B00BW8TAYG’ text=’The Shadow of the Wind’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’7933361e-054d-11e8-aee5-1def9b9aad70′] – I think I had too-high expectations, and I found the translation to be very clunky and I figured out the ending early on which is always a bit disappointing!

January tasted like…

• I ate well in NYC! Some favourites were Erin McKenna’s Gluten Free Bakery, Friedman’s, Bloom’s Deli, Tompkins Square Bagels, The Butcher’s Daughter and more!
• I’m gearing up for a Doctor’s ordered low-FODMAP elimination diet in February. Actually the Doctor ordered it in December and I’ve been putting it off because it seems so intense! There are literally hundreds of things I can’t eat on this diet and it is hard to wrap my brain around. I’m finding that reading books ([amazon_textlink asin=’0451497724′ text=’this one is a life saver’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sarahccbence-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’31b8df9b-054d-11e8-b480-4726b168811d’]) rather than the internet is helpful, and the Monash low-FODMAP app is also amazing. If you’ve ever had to do an elimination diet or a low-FODMAP diet, please get in touch because I’d love some wisdom!!

January blogged like…

• I slowed down (only a bit) on the blog-writing front and focused on more back-end things, which was smart because the Endless Distances pageviews almost doubled this month!! I am very happy about that 🙂
• However I did write three big posts this month: The Best Hostel for a Stopover in Iceland (also the coolest… I slept in a space pod!!), My 10 SUPER PRACTICAL Tips for New Expats (honestly a long time coming, and written for my friend Sydney who is imminently moving to Australia!), and Travel Made Me Sick (where I detail some of my health issues and why I am going to be writing more about wellness around here).
• I have been getting a lot of blog-inspiration this month from Lee from America (a holistic/wellness blog), Gluten Free Cuppa Tea (who I have long-time loved, but now even moreso as Becky also follows a low-FODMAP diet as well as GF), and the #AHeartFullOfDistances Instagram challenge I ran with Annabelle.

January purchased like…

• This is a new heading (along with the previous heading) that I want to do! In the past I’ve saved up all my money to spend on travel, but in a way I think that was one of the contributors to my ill health. I would skimp on everything in order to save money for travel, at the cost of things like health supplements or gym memberships or even little treats like new clothes. So one of my goals for 2018 is actually to spend more money (lol I’m probably alone in this).
• I haven’t really followed through on this goal much so far, so I think this heading will be more interesting in the following months! But I think my best purchase of January was definitely my pottery class – which was definitely an investment but so worth it so far! I look forward to pottery every week – it’s something I really missed in England as I couldn’t find a good or affordable studio in Plymouth.

 

January mantras…

There we go y’all! First monthly recap of 2018 done and dusted! I’m going to be a bit more flexible with the categories in my monthly recaps this year so as to keep me (and you guys!) interested – but I’m excited to talk more about behind-the-scenes blogging and my favorite purchases. I would also love to know what you guys bought this month (that furthers your wellbeing).

I have lots of blog post plans in the works for February – but no travel!! Which is very strange for me, as you guys know. Although I dooooo have one sneaky little trip that I may be booking for late Feb, so stay tuned on that.

What are your plans for February?

Sarah xx