Good Things To Do in 2015

How's your 2015 going so far? Mine's been pretty damn good. A bit too good actually, as I'm now finding it hard to get out of the holiday mindset and start being productive again (which is a bit funny considering my phrase for 2015...). I'd really like to stay with the beach going, book reading, bbq-ing vibe for awhile longer but unfortunately the world and my to do list have other ideas. 

One thing I have managed to do - in between the drinking and eating and lazing - is sign up for a few challenges to set the tone for the year. And I thought you might want to sign up for one too? Here's a list if you do. 

Photography 

Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day : If you don't know about this you clearly haven't been near the internet in a few years. Daily prompts, take a snap and post it on Instagram, your blog, Facebook, wherever. This year it's switching from monthly to weekly lists, which I think is awesome - much easier to dip in and out of as you please. 

365 Photo Challenge : Basically commit to taking one photo a day for a year. You can follow the prompts set by accounts like @my_365 on Instagram or you can just keep it simple with no prompts and no themes, just one photo each day, like I'm doing. 

Shake Creative Photo A Day : A photo a day challenge hosted by Zoey Martin, who you might know from Operation Move or The Shake. The prompts often have a fitness bent and also cover all kinds of emotions, good and bad and inspirational. A good one for those looking to push their creativity a bit. (With thanks to Dannielle for bringing this one to my attention!). 

Canon Light Awards : If you shoot with a Canon you might want to consider playing along with these awards. Challenging monthly briefs and the chance to get feedback from some amazing photographers - sounds pretty good to me!

Health + Fitness 

Operation Move's How Many Kms in 2015 : If you're looking to get fit and healthy in 2015 and you haven't checked out Operation Move yet, go do it now. They have a brilliant back story, offer a bunch of great services, and continually motivate and inspire me. Plus they've built a community of really wonderful lovely people. This year they've created a Facebook event asking how many kilometres you can move (run, walk, cycle, roller blade, whatever!) in 2015. It's a great place to make a public commitment, see what others are up to and check in. I've put my hand up for 1000kms (as of writing this I'm 18 down, 982 to go!). 

Run Down Under : I'm so excited about this one! Basically it's a virtual race around Australia. Log the number of kilometres you've covered on a regular basis and Run Down Under maps your progress, starting from Canberra (if you use Strava it's super easy to sync your kms). Apparently I've got 72.34kms until my next town, Goulburn... 

Books + Reading 

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge : My lovely friend Cat (who has exquisite taste in books, by the way!) put me on to this. I know lots of people who have 'read more' on their 2015 list and this seems like a fun way to tackle it with things like "A book your mom loves", "A banned book", and "A book with bad reviews" on the checklist. It's a bit like a treasure hunt, and I love that, so although I know I won't finish the checklist (I'm a slow reader!) I'm going to have a crack anyway! 

Set your own goal : I've recently switched from Shelfari to Good Reads to track my reading, mainly because of the iPhone app. But both sites are great, and both sites let you set a reading goal for the year and will track your progress towards that goal. 

A Year of Australian Writing : The gorgeous Pip is hosting a year of reading aussie stories - what an awesome idea! Although I'm not committing to this one I will be following along with great interest (and no doubt adding to my 'to read' pile along the way too).

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge : Okay so with 339 books on the list it'd be near impossible to get through this challenge in a year (unless you devoted all your waking hours to it, which doesn't sound like a bad way to pass 365 days actually...), but as a fan of Gilmore Girls this had to get a mention! (I've only read 34 of them, by the way.)

Fashion 

Fox in Flats' Style Dares : Not really a year long thing, but fun nonetheless! Andrea runs regular style challenges on her blog. I've never taken part, but I've watched in admiration as others have, and I think maybe it would do me good to get involved. Fingers crossed there's one soon! 

Jewellery Everyday with Megan Auman : Have a ton of jewellery but hardly ever wear it? Yep, me too. Which is why I really like this Instagram based challenge aimed at getting us to wear more jewellery. I think it only runs for a month, but maybe it'll inspire you to stick with it for a year?

Life 

Happiness Jar : This is all over the internets in various forms, and seems to be an idea attributed to Elizabeth Gilbert. Basically every day you write down something that's made you happy, something you're grateful for or that you've accomplished. Then at the end of the year you read back through all your notes and feel ace. Nice. Have a jar for each member of the family, even the furry ones, if you like! 

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I'll be updating this list over the next week, so if you know of a challenge or something fun to do in 2015 that's not on here do let me know. Maybe you are participating in one? Or hosting one? I'd love to hear about it!