An Amazing Year - Looking Back on 2015

I really can't believe that this is the last day of 2015.

December seems to have whizzed by in a flash, and I'm a little sad to see it go, as this year has been a really great one for me!

2015 was the year of some pretty big, life changing moments, and I have some incredible memories to look back on.

Lots of exciting things happened, from big things, like Tom and I moving into our own place together, to smaller things, like finally discovering podcasts (how did I not know about them before?! They've made my drive to work

so

much more fun!)

I love looking back at the year and remembering all the amazing things I have to be grateful for. Here are a few of the highlights from 2015...

*Starting off the year with a relaxed picnic in King's Park with some of my closest friends

*After a long hunt, Tom and I finally bought our first home!

We love our little apartment and have had such a great time moving in together and making it all home-y. We've still got a way to go before it'll be "finished" but I've been loving the process.

*A long weekend trip to Melbourne for my birthday

(The first time in years that I wasn't working or studying on the day!)

*Discovering "minimalism" and the idea of more simple living.

I've been on a decluttering and downsizing kick this whole year and it's something I plan to continue for years to come. I definitely wouldn't call myself a minimalist by any means, but I've had a huge shift in mindset and it's been pretty life changing. Thankfully Tom's been on board too and it's been so great to share this experience together. I've been inspired by a lot of blogs, youtube channels and podcasts so I'll hopefully get around to putting together my own post about this soon!

*Tying into the more minimalistic lifestyle I've been slowly adopting, I'm loving the fact that I've downsized my wardrobe and have been happily living with a capsule wardrobe for the past few months now. I still probably have a few too many pieces in my wardrobe, but I'm definitely finding it's much more manageable now! I was worried that streamlining my wardrobe would be problematic from the fashion blogging side of things, but I haven't found it to be a problem at all (although I will admit I've been a bad blogger and haven't been posting as much as I'd like lately). I actually think there might be a few changes coming to Lauren Loves Laughter next year, as I'm planning on sharing a lot more about capsule wardrobes and how I've applied this more minimal mindset to other aspects of my life.

*I finally dove in and decided to try my hand at

Youtube

.

I've only posted a few videos so far, but I'm happy to have finally overcome the fear of putting myself out there and gotten started on it, as it's something I've been wanting to do for a while now.  It's just another fun, creative outlet for me and hopefully something I'll continue in 2016!

*Tom and I celebrated our six year anniversary!

It's been an awesome six years that seem to have just flown by. I am so lucky to have such an amazing, funny, kind, (not to mention incredibly good looking) guy by my side.

Ok... enough of the soppiness!

*An awesome holiday in Melbourne and Tasmania to end the year.

Taylor Swift's 1989 Tour was amazing, and we then had a lovely relaxing holiday in Tassie. I totally fell in love with the place - the adorable old houses in Hobart, the winding roads and gorgeous small towns, the delicious food (particularly their raspberries!), the amazing view from our accommodation in Swansea, and an amazing day spent trekking around Cradle Mountain.

It's been a good year :)

I have a feeling though that  2016 is going to be equally fabulous (if not better) as I have some exciting news up my sleeve (but you'll just have to wait for that!)

I hope you're 2015 has been just as amazing!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

April in Pictures

Where on earth is the year going? It seems to be flying by so quickly!

Here's a look at a few things I've been up to in April:

It's been a pretty cool month, with Tom and I getting settled into our new place. We haven't quite got everything sorted yet, but things are slowly coming together.

The only part of the apartment that is completely done is the kitchen and we've been having fun cooking a little more instead of going out to eat like we usually do. I've particularly been enjoying using my new "Nutri Ninja" and have been going a bit crazy making smoothies! (Recipes will be making their way to the blog soon I'm sure!)

Long walks through King's Park, by the river and around UWA have also become part of our weekend routine. It's such a great way to start off the day and the weather's been pretty perfect for it (nice job Perth!)

With two long weekends this month I had a great excuse to finally sit down and enjoy a lazy afternoon reading a book. We still don't have internet yet which has been a little annoying (and is the reason why it's been a bit quiet on the blogging front this month), but it has been a great way to force me back into the habit of reading. Not that I need much forcing, but it's taken away the distraction of Instagram/email/youtube etc and helped me get back into something that I love but just don't do enough of!

Oh and I also dressed up as Princess Leia for a Star Wars themed party! (On that note - anyone else excited for the new Star Wars movie coming out soon? I can't wait!)

I hope April's been great for you! 

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx  

(a very belated) March in Pictures

Well... April has been a rather dismal month blog wise but actually a very exciting one in terms of life events - which is why this post is so late! I couldn't skip this one though because March was such an exciting time for Tom and myself and I wanted to have this little collage of pictures here on the blog to look back on! 

If you've read my previous blog post you'll know that in March we got the keys to our very own apartment! As you can imagine we were pretty excited about this and most of the month was spent organising all things home related.

We currently have very little furniture, but a rather large and overflowing collection of mugs!

We do actually have a dining table now but it was fun having picnics on the floor the first few nights! That picture above was taken on the first night we spent there - watching Gilmore Girls and eating pizza ;)

Other fun things in March included catching up with friends over a delicious brunch, strolling around Fremantle and stumbling upon a second-hand book sale one weekend morning. 

A pretty awesome month really :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

February in Pictures

February has been a strange month - in some ways it seems to have flown by and I can't believe we're into March already, but in others it feels like it's been a very long 28 days!

A lot has happened, in particular one very large, exciting and life changing thing (which you'll hear about soon), and as always I've recorded all the little things  (as well as big things - in the case of

The Giants

that were here for the Perth International Arts Festival) that made me smile. 

As usual there's lots of food photos, from delicious Nutella pancakes at a new favourite breakfast place called

Lucioli

, to my family's Chinese New Year feast. Low key Valentine's day celebrations dressed up in a heart printed shirt (cute but a little cheesy), and of course photos of my beautiful little sister all dressed up for her Year 12 Ball. 

It's been a very memorable month, and there's going to be lots of exciting things coming up in March too!

I hope you've had a fabulous February!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx