Ciara Sims

Last month, my boyfriend and I took a trip to Ireland to visit my family and we ended up staying with my Uncle and Auntie in Murrisk for most of the trip. Murrisk is an absolutely beautiful village in County Mayo which is on the West coast of Ireland and is home to Ireland's Holy mountain - Croagh Patrick. Now I've seen Croagh Patrick many times and I have family members who have climbed the mountain but I've never been all the way to the top myself. I thought that while we were staying there it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Climbing Croagh Patrick was easily one of the hardest things I've ever done and it took us a good few hours to climb all the 762m above sea level to the top and back down again. It was challenging, many breaks were taken and I'm in no rush to go and do it again but I am so happy that I can say I have climbed it. I don't really know what I expected. I expected it to be tough, it's a mountain. But I wasn't prepared for how steep it was at all. Or for the fact that if you went very wrong, it could possibly end quite badly. There wasn't a path or anything, like people think there will be. It's just rocks. But we were fine and we met loads of people coming up and down who were so lovely and offered encouragement. The views when we got to the top were amazing, you could see for miles and if the weather had been a little bit nicer then I could have stayed up there for hours. Even if you don't make it to the top, the views from the half way point are stunning so it's worth it if you try and make it to there.

The whole reason why Croagh Patrick is such a big deal is because Saint Patrick is supposed to have completed a 40 day fast there and legend also has it that the mountain is where Saint Patrick banished snakes from Ireland forever! Each year, on the last Sunday of July, thousands of people from around the world visit the mountain for a day of worship in honour of Saint Patrick. Some of these people even climb the mountain barefoot as an act of penance (you'd never catch me climbing that thing barefoot but each to their own).

I seriously admire anybody who makes it to the top and my auntie even did this thing for charity one year when she climbed Croagh Patrick every day for a week. Which I think is so impressive because I was really tired the next day and couldn't even think about going up again. Plus there was a man who climbed the mountain every day for a year. A WHOLE YEAR. If that's not impressive then I don't know what is. I think it's something that should definitely be done once in your lifetime and if you ever get the chance to go and see it then you definitely should. Murrisk is beautiful and the mountain makes for some breath-taking pictures. When we stayed at their house I could see the mountain from the bedroom window and that was a view that I definitely think I could never get used to.

Climbing Croagh Patrick is an experience that I will never forget and I'm so happy that I managed to do it.

Ciara x

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My recent trip to Ireland has definitely left me with the travel bug and I would do anything to go on another adventure to an entirely new country. I don't actually go on that many holidays and so there are still plenty of destinations left for me to dream about. I would love to travel the world one day and I have world maps and postcards from friends and family covering my bedroom walls that feed my wanderlust. So I thought I would round up 10 places that I would do anything to travel to. A girl can dream can't she?

• Peru
• Norway
• Budapest (Hungary)
• New York
• Copenhagen (Denmark)
• Australia
• Thailand
• Mexico
• Sweden
• Jinju (South Korea)

Where is on your travel bucket list?

Ciara x

After months of worrying and stressing, I finally received my GCSE mock results last week. I had convinced myself that I had failed everything. When I opened up my results I was over the moon, I had managed to get 7 B's an A and an A*. I had spent weeks and weeks worrying and getting myself in a panic for absolutely nothing. I am constantly too hard on myself and I put myself down straight away, something that I am trying to change. When I got home my parents were thrilled as they knew how hard I had worked to achieve these grades, but my brother being a little stirrer said - "Well they aren't all A's are they". And there was a part of me, a tiny little part in the back of my mind, that agreed with him.

I think we put so much pressure on ourselves to achieve perfection when really it isn't needed. I got amazing grades, and grades that I am extremely proud of and that I would be happy with if this was the real thing and yet I still felt a little bad? That's not right at all.

Not everybody is going to achieve a perfect score of all A's and A*'s and I think we need to stop comparing ourselves to the people that do. It is okay to strive for perfection but it is not okay to beat yourself up for it when it doesn't happen. One persons idea of perfection may be completely different to the person standing next to them.

All that matters is that you work hard in order to feel good about what you have done, and achieve the best that you can. It's about setting yourself a goal and working towards it. Worrying wont solve anything, it will just make you feel bad about yourself when actually you are doing pretty well. Don't compare your winnings with somebody else's. They don't know the journey that you had to take to get there.

Be a warrior not a worrier.

Ciara x

I was Nominated by Emily Mace to answer a couple of questions about last year and the next. I'm new to blogging so I think this will give everybody another little chance to get to know me. So, let's get cracking:

1. What was your biggest achievement of 2014?

I think my biggest achievement this year would be the fact that I can now make it through a whole netball match without the need of my asthma pump. I am by no means super fit but I've learnt to control my breathing and gradually built my fitness up and I am so proud of myself because I really didn't want to have to become dependant on my pump. Now I can play and enjoy it, rather than feeling like the devil is having a party in my chest!

2. What do you want to achieve with your blog by this time next year?

As I've said I am new to blogging and I haven't even been blogging for a year yet! So I think this time next year I would love to have a better blog design and over 100 followers. I know to some blogs that probably doesn't seem like much at all but it is for me and I'm going to build up my blog in little steps.

3. Name one thing you want to do next year that you can tick off your bucket list.

Not the most interesting thing on my bucket list, but I would love to go camping with a group of my friends to hopefully celebrate our GCSE results!

4. What are you most looking forward to next year?

I haven't really got anything planned but in September I will be able to learn how to drive! That's pretty exciting!

5. Your happiest moment of 2014?

In 2014 my little brothers friend finally beat cancer and I think that has got to be one of the happiest moments in my whole life. I've never known a nicer family and I was so happy for all of them.

6. What new years resolution are you actually planning on sticking to?

Well as I said in my resolutions and goals post; in May I will be sitting my German and French GCSE, so I really need to stop using Google Translate for my homework!

7. A personal goal for next year

Definitely to surround myself with people that make me happier and to stop jumping through hoops for people who wouldn't even cross the road for me.

Thanks for tagging me Emily!

I would like to tag: Taylor from Repressing The Crazy, Amelia from Amelia Anastasia and Andie from Andieology. However if any of you would like to join in with the tag then leave me a link below because I would love to read them.

Ciara x

2014 was a weird year for me. It was filled to the brim with ups and downs. Things that I thought were going to be amazing weren't and things that I wasn't excited for at all turned out to create some amazing memories. I started this blog, joined a local netball team, had 3 sets of mock GCSE's, I visited Berlin and Paris, grew close with people that I never imagined I would and grew apart from ones that I thought would be there forever.

Actually the friendship thing has been a big thing for me this year. I learnt that sometimes you grow out of friendships and it's not because either of you have done anything wrong and it isn't something that you can necessarily stop, you just grow out of each other. But that's okay. Sometimes it's healthy to form new friendships and talk to people that you never thought you would have anything in common with, and maybe just maybe that person could become a much better friend to you than your old friend was. I'm not saying that means you should completely ditch your old friends, I'm just saying that it is okay to perhaps not be as close with them as you used to. Some friendships will last for a life time and others wont, that is just life. The real trick is being able to spot which friendships are worth investing your time into. I've made this mistake a lot but I think I am getting better at it. If you do one thing this year then please, please, please let it be this: Surround yourself with people that make you happy. That is one of my goals this year, as cheesy as it sounds. Be with people that make you laugh and that you make laugh, the ones who check up on you and distract you from things when you're feeling down. You don't even have to have the same interests as them. Sometimes you meet somebody and you just click. Look out for those people and trust your gut instinct and do whatever it takes to keep yourself okay and happy. And if ever you want to talk to somebody, then remember that I am here and I am only an email away.

I am due to sit my GCSE's in May so obviously my other goal this year is to get the best possible grades that I can, so I am able to continue in further education. This is going to be probably the hardest thing I have ever had to so far and revision will be beginning extremely soon. I figure little and often is the way to go? If anybody has any revision tips for me, I would be hugely grateful!

That brings me on to my New Year's resolution: No more Google Translate. I am currently studying for a German and French GCSE and I have 5 months to go, yet I am still letting Google Translate do my coursework and homework for me. This has got me into many sticky situations as my teacher firmly believes that I am capable of achieving an A* while in reality I scored a C in my mocks. Whoops.

Okay so here's to knuckling down and being happy. 2015 - Let's do this!

What are your goals/resolutions for the New Year?

Ciara x