Books I Want To Read In 2017

2017 is almost upon us and I've decided to have a good think about what books I want to read in the coming year.

Every year I set a reading goal on Goodreads. Last month I deleted my goodreads and created a new one. I just felt like my old account was messy and unorganised and in all honesty I could not be bothered sorting out. So, I decided to start again fresh.

So this coming year my Goodreads reading goal will be 52 books. I'm not going to list all 52 books I want to read because I don't know them all. I don't want to lock myself into that sort of commitment.

What I do want to do is reduce my TBR pile, I want to end 2017 with less books on my TBR than I started with. Fingers crossed.

Re-reads

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

3. A Lineage of Grace - Francine Rivers

4. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

5. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

DNF's

1. The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers

2. Redeeming Sex - Debra Hirsch

3. Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates

4. The Hourglass Factory - Lucy Ribchester

5. Belgravia - Julian Fellowes

TBR

1. Moranthology - Caitlin Moran

2. Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

3. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

4. Us - David Nicholls

5. Atonement - Ian McEwan

And there we have it my 2017 reading goals.

Now all I need to do is actually hold myself to it...

Kate // Sk

MERRY CHRISTMAS // SK

From both of us here at Simply Karah we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

We'll be back after the new year with all new content, hope to see you there!

Merry Christmas,

Kate & Bekah // SK

The Peace of Me // A Christmas Art Exhibition

So as some of you may know by now I am a youth worker at a church. I think a lot of people think they know what a youth worker does. And before I became one I thought I knew too. But man is this job varied.

As I type I am sitting in a room usually filled with sofas and chairs and tables which we as a youth work team have completely transformed for a youth art exhibition.

Over the past few weeks we have worked with the young people to create things for this exhibition. We have 3 videos, a poem and a huge stable installation that we made with the young people. It's truly incredible. (Can you tell I'm proud?)

The whole idea of the exhibition is the idea that if Jesus is the peace of the world where is the peace?

It's an interesting concept isn't it? As a Christian I believe that Jesus is the prince of peace. And Jesus came to Earth to make this a reality. So where is the peace? I don't think anyone could really say that the world is a peaceful place.

We've been encouraging people coming to the exhibition to write down answers to the question "where's the peace in..."

It's a question with no answer. It's a cry out for peace where there is none.

I thought I would also share with you some of the answers that people have anonymously given.

Where's the peace in...

Alcoholism

School

Broken Families

Cancer

War

This is by no means meant to be depressing. I guess it is a bit.

But also in the exhibition there are three videos. Two describing two stories of people from our church who have gone through some incredibly tough times. They spend the videos describing how even during a time when nobody would expect there to be peace they found that. They talk about how they found that and how Jesus truly was for them the Prince of Peace. So there's the hope. Real people talking about real events and the peace they found in those awful times.

So this Christmas I truly pray that any of you who find this time of year hard every year or maybe just this year seems like it's going to be an impossible time would find some peace. In whatever form that comes in.

So peace out,

Kate // SK

Christmas Holidays TBR

Sorry to bang on about it again but we've moved house.

With this house move comes something truly wonderful for any book lover. Bookshelves. I now have a dedicated space with multiple matching bookshelves where all my books can happily live without being in piles in front of other piles. The next day off I will definitely be spending time organising them into an order that makes sense for me.

With all my books now out of boxes and in view I figured it was about time I got back into reading regularly.

With that in mind I have made myself my first ever TBR (to be read) list for over the festive season when I may actually have time to read.

There are 4 books on my TBR and fingers crossed I'll get through them all.

Let It Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

I've had this book for a couple of years now and every year around this time I remind myself that I haven't read it yet and that I really should. Hopefully this year is finally going to be when I get round to it.

I know nothing of the plots of any of the three stories which is how I prefer it!

 The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder

This is a book I read at this time of year every year. It's about a little boy called Joachim who reads a secret story every day in his advent calendar telling the story of a little girl called Elisabet who was travelling across Europe and back in time to Bethlehem and birth of Jesus. Sounds complicated but it's a beautiful story that flows naturally.

The Outrun - Amy Liptrot

I read the first few pages of this book while very very tired a few days ago an remember precisely nothing. I think it deserves another go. I've heard nothing but good things about this book so I'm looking forward to diving in.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

I was watching A Muppet Christmas Carol yesterday when it occurred to me that I actually haven't read the original book. Shocking. In fact I haven't read any Dickens. This is something I think needs to be remedied. I obviously know the basic plot of this story from the Muppets film. The story follows Scrooge, a mean spirited man who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and his life is changed forever.

So there we have it, my Christmas TBR.

I'm going to go and read now, clearly I have a lot of books to be getting on with!

I love reading Christmas books so if you have any recommendations please tweet me @SimplyKarah10

Kate // SK

As We Approach Winter

What do you do when the temperature drops? When we fast approach December? When winter is coming and the cold hits our chests and our noses? When you look out your window and there's frost and ice everywhere?

Do you stay in and stay warm? Cosy up on the couch with a blanket, hot water bottle, a warm drink? Do you go outside and embrace the prettiness of the trees, the frost covered grass, the frozen lakes or canals, seeing your warm breath in the cold winter air? Do you moan about how cold it is? Do you lust at the fact you can run home to a warm house? 

What if you didn't have that? What if you had to stay outside in the cold, grasping for that small piece of warmth.

In a month that starts to bring out the good in us, the giving side of us, are we really thinking about everyone?

I recently went out in Edinburgh, with a charity called the Bethany Trust. In a care van, with soup, hot drinks and clothes. Parking up on the side of the street at several locations throughout Edinburgh the van was swarmed by people who have no home, who have no food. Who don't have warmth during these chilling months. My eyes were completely opened at the amount of people who came to the van and having that heart wrenching moment when we ran out of homemade soup and were left with cuppa soups, they smiled and were grateful. They didn't care about what type of soup they were getting, they cared about the warmth and the fact that they were getting something to eat. 

I'll be the first to admit; I always forget that there are people who don't have shelter and food in our country, but once you see it and see what people are doing to help then you dot forget.

I urge you, please, whether it's December or not, donate. Give something back. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Volunteer with a food van. Donate money to a charity that helps those less fortunate. 

You don't know the difference it can make once you see it with your own eyes. 

Bekah // SK

Life Update // We Moved House!

Well hey there. It's actually been a while since I wrote a blog post, the last few to go up have been pre-written posts, and you know why that was? (Of course you do it's in the flipping title but give me this..I'm excited).

We moved house!

Bekah and I have finally moved in together. So we've both spent the past week or so packing all our stuff up and moving it all in. We're still living out of boxes so if posts are a bit infrequent the next week or so please forgive us.

I'm bruised (a slight incident with the attic), I'm tired and I've seen more cardboard boxes in the past week than I ever want to see again. But, I'm also happy and excited about what's to come.

Pictures and blog posts all about moving and our new house coming soon.

But in the meantime I leave you with something I learnt during this moving process...

If you have measured the size of your car and the size of the boxes from Ikea and don't think the boxes will fit. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. So even when an Ikea worker tells you she got the same boxes in a Fiat 500 DON'T LISTEN TO HER. Because if you do you will end up standing awkwardly in an Ikea warehouse car park waiting for your friend to come with his car to take the stuff that doesn't fit in your car.

Kate // SK

Exit Plan Escape Rooms Edinburgh // Review

So recently for Bekah's brother's birthday we went to the Escape Rooms in Edinburgh. There were 7 of us and we did the Tesla Game at Exit Plan Edinburgh.

What is an Escape Room?

An escape room is an immersive live mystery game. Players go into the room and are licked in and have to solve the mystery in order to escape the room in as quick a time as possible.

Exit Plan Edinburgh

Exit plan Edinburgh is one of many escape rooms in Edinburgh. We chose the game we did because it allowed 7 players unlike some of the others which had a cap at 6.

Tesla

Our game was called Tesla. The basic premise was that a mad scientist that we all worked for had created a weapon called the Tesla which he was now planning to sell of to bad people. We had one hour while he was on his lunch break to sneak into his rooms and find the Tesla and escape the room. To do this we would have to follow a number of clues, break codes and unlock safes.

How was it?

It was AMAZING. It was so much better than any of us thought it would be. We managed to complete the game in 32 minutes which we were pretty pleased about.

The game was hard enough that we were kept entertained and challenged but not so hard that it felt impossible.

We all had so much fun and can't wait to go again. We would all recommend it to anyone who enjoys a challenge or trying something new.

If any of you have tried any other escape rooms around central Scotland let us know what you thought and if they're worth trying out!

Kate // SK

December Plans // What's Kate Doing?

Hey guys,

So we've decided that this year we won't be doing Blogmas. The idea of blogging every day on top of moving house and not having WiFi was just to stressful for both Bekah and I.

Instead we've decided to take it easy and blog as and when we can.

I thought today I would give you a little run down of a few of the things I'll be doing this December and what you can potentially look forward to seeing on the blog.

Christmas Nativity Service - every year the young people and children at my church put on an adaptation of the Nativity for the congregation. This year's play is called "The Reluctant Shepherd" and I'm helping to organise it all. A lot of work but very exciting.

Christmas Eve Service - myself and several of my friends organise and run the two Christmas Eve services my church has every year. It's my church service of the year.

Moving House? - this one still has a question mark on it because it's not totally confirmed yet but fingers crossed December will be the month Bekah and I move into our little house!

Christmas Markets - hopefully many a Christmas market will make an appearance on the blog this December.

Work Nights Out - I have three jobs so that means three work nights out, all this socialising is going to be exhausting!

Rogue One - Our tickets for the midnight showing of Rogue One are all booked! I'll definitely have a mini review of that one up.

Cosy Nights In - is there any need to explain this one?

All in all you can expect festive posts as well as not so festive. Hopefully lots of moving posts and some hauls, with Christmas tree decorating and Christmas markets mixed in!

Kate // SK

December // BuJo Set Up

Wow. December already. I'm taking things easy bullet journal wise this month. What with potentially moving house and Christmas being a very busy time of year when you work at a Church I'm not even going to attempt to do any kind of tracking.

But I thought I may as well show you my set up anyway. I've added in a little "Present To Buy/Bought" list where my tracker would usually be. But seeing as I've already filled it in with all my present buying ideas I can't show you it. Sorry!

Exact same monthly spread as always because I love it so why change it. Although I did add fairy lights to add a festive feel..

 As you can probably tell I have completely changed my weekly layout and while it looks a heck of a lot better it's a bit of a pain to set up so I don't know if I'll be continuing with it in January. I've added four tracker boxes on each day to replace my monthly tracker. So we have steps per day, sleep per night, did I read today, and breakfast, lunch and dinner checks. Let me know what you think about this layout and whether or not I should stick with it.


You may have noticed that the images today were not the best and I can only apologise. Apparently my camera has given up being a camera and now only likes taking dark photos with some random dots in the middle of the photo. So I'm using an old iPhone to take the photos on a very grey day. Sorry!

Kate // SK

Move Out With Us // Preparing to Move

Exciting times ahead for Bekah and I. We potentially have a house to move into!!

Fingers crossed all the paperwork goes ahead and we can be moved in by Christmas.

Today I thought I would talk to you guys about preparing to move. And of course because I love bullet journaling so much I have a spread to go along with what I want to talk about.

 So this is the first of what I am guessing will be multiple bullet journal spreads in the coming weeks. I set this up today to get my head around the packing and bills that need to be sorted before we move into the house.

Most of this spread are ideas I found on a couple of other people's moving bullet journal posts so I'll link those at the bottom of this post for you to check out.

So this a very not to scale and not accurate map of the upstairs of our little house. I have colour coded the rooms relevant to me, the plan is the to colour code the boxes I pack for ease of unpacking.

Moving onto the downstairs and another not to scale map of our kitchen and living spaces which are again colour coded.

This checklist is full of the things which need to be done before/as we move in. Very small boxes representing ALOT of work.

This will become a running record of the packing being done day by day on the run up to the move. I'll finish setting this up once we have a move in date.

Furniture?

So Bekah and I have decided to move into an unfurnished house which means that before we can properly move in we needed to buy beds and sofa's and bookshelves etc.

So look out for house hauls and more moving posts coming soon!

Kate // SK

Inspiration from:

Moving Insider

Creative Pineapple

A/W Reads // SK Books

Something about the last few months of the year makes me want to read more. I like reading new books and old favourites. It's the dark nights when there isn't much on TV that make me want to curl up with a blanket and a cup of tea and escape into another world.

These are some of my firm favourites that I like to read at this time of year. They're beautiful, immersive books that drag you in and keep you until you finish the whole book.

 This book is one of my all time favourites. It was first published in 1992 and when this copy was bought it cost £3.99 (don't you wish books still only cost that!?). So Far From Skye is about a pair of siblings Morag and Allan MacDonald who are forced to emigrate from the isle of Skye to Australia in the 1850's. It follows them as they are uprooted from their home and have to adapt to an entirely new home.

Rooftoppers is a book I pre-ordered (which I never do) because I loved the sound of it so much. Rooftoppers follows the life of Sophie who is in an orphan and her discovery of the children who live under the radar on top of the rooftops of Paris. What an idea. 

This is another book that I have loved for a very long time. I first got this out of the library when I was in primary school and since then I have purchased my own copy as the library no longer has it. Ragboy, Rats and the Surging Seas follows Silas, a rag and bone boy, who discovers a mermaid lying injured on the beach one morning and decides to rescue her. 

The Secret Garden is one of my all time favourites (I feel like I'm saying this about every book in this post). When I was a child I was enchanted with the idea of a secret garden, I wanted my own so much that I asked my mum for a bit of garden of my own, needless to say me gardening my own little bit didn't last very long. Unlike my gardening efforts my love for this book has stayed strong. Mary Lennox is orphaned and sent off to live with her Uncle, she's a contrary little girl who isn't interested in anything, until she discovers a garden that has been locked up for years. 

First off, how beautiful is this copy of Wuthering Heights. I got this copy for my 21st birthday and I am still in love 2 years later. Wuthering Heights is such a dark tale but the descriptions of the moors are perfect for a cosy night in. This book is about the family that lived at Wuthering Heights as told by housekeeper Nelly to a visitor to the area 30 years after the events unfolded.

The Fox and the Star is a beautiful illustrated book about a fox and (you guessed it) a star. I don't want to go into the plot because it's short and there isn't much I could say without ruining the book. All I will say is that the images in this book are incredible and while it only takes 5 minutes to read it sticks with you for a long time after you put it down.

What old favourites do you like to read at this time of year?

Kate // SK

5 Favourite Things About - WINTER

Autumn is nearly over and that means winter is on it's way (see how I avoided the game of thrones reference there?) and while a lot of the time the only good thing about Autumn ending seems to be that it's nearly Christmas I thought it would be good to remind myself, and you, why winter is actually sometimes alright.. let's give it a go.

Crunchy Grass

Why is crunchy grass so satisfying? There is something so good about walking over the garden or local parks and hearing and feeling the grass crunching under your feet. It's such a winter sound and I forget how much I love it.

Being Cold

Now this is only going to relate to a select few of you. Most of you are probably thinking I'm mad right about now. But I love being cold. Being too hot is possibly the most uncomfortable feeling for me. It's November and I still don't have my heating on and I'm still sleeping with my window open at night. I love being cold because then I can wear all my cosy lounge wear and not melt. Call me crazy, but the cold winter months have their benefits.

Layering

I love layering. I love wearing all black but playing with shades of black (yes this is a thing) and textures. I really enjoy picking out layers, what I do hate though is coats. Nothing makes me more irritated in winter than the need to wear a coat. I will actively choose to be cold rather than wear a coat.

Winter Drinks

When Costa comes out with their winter drinks I'm there. Hot Spiced Apple juice, endless flavours of coffee (getting weirder every year) and the Christmas themed cups. I'm easy to please.

Boots

I love wearing boots, heeled boots, flat boots, ankle boots, knee high boots. I love them all. And winter is when I get to wear them.

I don't know about you but this blog post has made me much more up for winter.

Do you agree with my points? What points would you add or remove?

Kate // SK

Writing with Sparklers // How To

Every year you see the amazing pictures people have made with sparklers, spelling out their names, drawing love hearts or just a crazy mess of lines in the darkness. Ever wondered how it's done? Stick around and I'll try to explain it to you.

First off here are some of the examples Bekah and I achieved this year using my Pentax K-r camera.

Cool right? Well we love them.

The most important setting you need to work with in order to create these images is Shutter Speed. This controls how long the camera's shutter is open and letting in light. So the longer the shutter speed is the longer it takes a photo and the more movements of your sparkler are captured in your picture.

For most of the images above the shutter speed is between 4 and 13 seconds. The longer the word we were trying to capture the longer the shutter speed was.

Shutter speed is something you can probably change on your smart phone too so even if you don't have a DSLR camera you can give this a go.

The other setting I altered for these photos was the ISO setting. ISO is how sensitive to light your camera is, the higher the ISO is the more sensitive to light your camera will be. For these photos I turned the ISO down to 400, which is as low as my camera can go. This meant that my camera didn't pick up light from other sources as much, such as street lights in the distance and it meant the background of the photo was more black and the focus was on the sparklers more than anything else.

ISO is not something you can necessarily change on camera phones, but if you're photos come out too light in the background you can always edit them later.

It's a combination of these two settings that really makes these photos work, without changing the ISO you end up with a picture which is over exposed and looks rubbish. Likewise without changing the shutter speed you would end up with only the slightest movement of the sparkler which wouldn't give you the photo you want.

FINAL TIP: If you don't like sparklers/don't have any/are too young for sparklers there is an alternative. Bekah and I tried out using our phone torches as a way of creating these photos and it worked really well. I'll put some examples down below. We used exactly the same set up as with sparklers but with our phone torches instead, handy!

Have you created any photos like these? We would love to see them!

Kate // SK

TGIF // Friday Favourites

There's a definite Autumn/Winter theme to today's Friday Favourites. I just bloomin love A/W.

This tote bag is from Waterstones, the illustration is by Quentin Blake, it's a total throw back for me so when I saw it I snapped it up right away. It's smaller than your average tote bag and I've been using it to transport my lunch to and from the office every day. It's the perfect size.

I've been lucky enough to have some how managed to have a cold for a month straight now, this ginger cordial has been a total life saver for me. This cordial is the only reason I've not lost my voice/ torn out my throat in annoyance or curled up in a ball and tried to hibernate.

I have these pyjama trousers as part of a set from Primark. There is nothing more wintery (is that a word) in my mind than a set of red tartan pyjamas. Every time I wear them it makes me happy. My sister and Bekah also have the same set because I made them get them and we are that cool. Jealous? I thought so.

My sister got me this lipstick last year and I love it. It's really dark and probably as close to black as I will ever be brave enough to wear. Plus, could the packaging get any nicer?

I picked these boots up from Ebay for £16 and oh my am I in love. They are so comfortable and they don't make the clip clop noises (the two things I value most in a heeled boot).

What are some of your favourites during the Autumn/Winter seasons?

Kate // SK

Happy One Year | SK ANNIVERSARY

WE'RE A YEAR OLD!!

Can you believe we started this blog one whole year ago? That is CRAZY! 

To celebrate this lil' anniversary I thought it'd be a lovely idea to share our favorite posts with you guys. I'll photo's and titles below and, if you like, just click the photo to be taken to the post!

Bonfire's and Fireworks

Autumnal Walk

Just Be You

Blooms Day 10 // A Letter To Santa

Snowy Walks

Portugal // Travel Blog

How-To | Finding Your Style

This Is Scotland | Cramond & Skateboarding

Strawberry Picking | Birthday Celebrations

Oh Hi There!

BuJo // August Set Up

The Role of a Nurse | My Perspective

What I Got For My Birthday // 23!

Fireworks Night

Again, I can't believe it's been a whole year since we started this blog!
Here's to another year (and I WILL be better at posting!)

Bekah // SK x

Fireworks Night

It's that time of year again. We wrap up warm and go and stand in a field and look at pretty lights in the sky. How weird. But wonderful. This year I went to two firework displays, Bekah was working on the 5th so we found a town near us that had their fireworks show early so she could still go along.

I love attempting to get half decent photos of fireworks so here are this years efforts, are they better than last years? I'll leave that to you to decide. Take a look at last years here.

   

  

Did you get any good shots of fireworks? We would love to see them!

Kate // SK