A REAL Night In With Me

16:00

When you think of a "night in" what would you think of? Chilling out on the sofa under a blanket watching netflix with a tub of Ben & Jerry's? Having a relaxing bath-bomb infused bath with candles, prosecco and a facemask? Well these are the types of things I read about all the time, but for me personally, that is definitely not the case.

My nights in, generally, consist of not doing much at all, if I'm honest. I really haven't ever done any of the above activities by myself - I don't like watching too much TV for starters, I get bored in a bath after about 5 minutes (which is a waste), and I hate prosecco...so there's that. I'm not going to sugar coat my activities, I want to be real with you guys and tell you what I actually do, because I'm me.

Reading
I like to chill with a good book most of the time; I don't spend enough time reading as I would like, so when I get the chance to have a sit-down and read, I would completely jump at the chance (or sit, so to speak). I'd snuggle up in bed with a hot chocolate and a good book and eventually get lulled to sleep.

Hanging Out
This one is real simple. I literally just be. I just relax, let myself chill out and wind down from the day - I don't even need to be doing anything as such, I could just be playing a game on my phone or chatting to my friends, but I have no real taxing tasks to be doing so just don't do much at all.

Chat With My Mum
There's nothing I like more than having a good heart to heart with my Mum. I'm lucky enough to be able to talk to her about anything and everything, and I relish being able to talk to her without any distractions; just me and her on the sofa having a good old chin wag.

Unless I have something specific to do, then those are the things that I generally do as little as that may sound. When you have a night in for yourself, you are doing it for yourself so you can do whatever you like, and what I like is not doing much at all, and that's just fine!

What do you like to do on a night in?

Bootea Delivery

16:00

I’m always one for massively spur of the moment purchases when it comes to creating a habit of sorts, and yesterday was again, one of those days. Upon speaking with a friend at work who recommended them, I opted to buy some Bootea products.

According to the Bootea website, the company is about being a passionate health and weight loss company that drives to promote an active, healthy and balanced lifestyle. They believe being healthy is a lifestyle choice. Maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle whilst upholding a busy routine can be difficult and that's where they can help. (I've actually taken wording from their website and just changed the pronouns).

I was going to purchase a slightly more expensive bundle, but then thought about how shit my habit tracker was of late, and decided to go for the starter bundle instead, which was the cheapest one.


Included in the bundle is:
☽ 14 Day Teatox - 14 day supply of loose tea bags for day and 7 day supply for night
☽ Little Oats - slow releasing source of healthy energy, just add water
☽ Multivits - supports skin health, sleep quality, exercise recovery, and maintains healthy metabolic and biological functions.

Pssst...I got this package at midday and I've already tried the oats! Oh my goodness they're so good, and even with just adding water, it's still super creamy and you don't need to add any sweeteners to it.

A little while ago I purchased a trial of Juice Plus shakes, which I never really stuck to. When I actually had one, however, I found that I didn't feel hungry for a long time after having one, and wasn't craving any midday snacks. So on top of the Bootea products, I'm also gonna have those shakes as well!

I’m just going to see how I go, and hopefully lose a bit of my tummy before I go on holiday at the beginning of June. I have no expectations or high hopes to be honest, so I’m just gonna take it day by day and try and get into a “routine” of sorts with my health. The biggest thing for me is going to me mindless snacking and the routine itself and sticking to it.

As mentioned before, I have issues with motivation and distraction so I want this to be my first real test. I'll keep you updated along the way! Have you ever tried anything like this before?

All The Passion, No Motivation

19:59


I constantly find myself reading and researching about staying healthy, being organised, and getting into a routine more than I actually work on doing it all. With regards to even working my makeup business, I've read a ridiculous amount of personal development books, that my mind knows exactly what to do, but my body doesn't quite want to reciprocate. There are so many blog posts covering these subjects, what to do, and how to achieve the results you want to achieve - but what happens if your mind is more than willing to do it, but your body doesn't quite follow in the same direction, what are you supposed to do then? There is no reset to factory settings with your body. 

I have this issue whereupon I know what I want, and I want it with so much passion and soul, but I can't quite muster the energy to make it happen. It's got absolutely nothing to do with not wanting it or believing that I can do it; more so the fact that I never seem to have the motivation or the determination to follow things through. I get distracted ridiculously easily - even when writing this blog post, my phone went off, I replied to a text, and then proceeded to play a phone game for the next 20 minutes. 

It frustrates me to no end, and I've absolutely no idea how to get out of this rut. I think I've mentioned this before, but I read that it takes 21 days to form a habit and I really really really (can I put anymore really's in that sentence) need to start forming new ones to actually get things done. I know this is sounding super depressing, but it's something that is truly REAL to me, and it's one of the main reasons why I've been trying to blog every other day. I've actually missed 2 days now, but have managed to catch up, so in actual fact this is the first thing in a long time that I've actually been sticking to. YES! A POSITIVE!

On another good note, I've been making small positive steps in other areas of my life too. I recently asked for a promotion in my current job, and I've just decided that I really wanna kickstart my health regime, so have ordered some healthy bits and bobs and even bought a blender to encourage me. I'm sure I will keep you up to date on that journey, and my stuff should be arriving tomorrow, so a haul of sorts in the near future will probably happen! 

Anyways, I just wanted to write this post to show that not every blogger has the perfect morning or exercise routine etc, and that some of us do actually struggle to get motivated sometimes, as nobody's perfect. I'm interested to hear, do you have struggles with motivation?

Weekly Playlist #1

17:43

I've decided to create a mini segment where I list some songs that I've found or had on repeat the previous week. It definitely won't always be new music that I've found but I do want to use it as an excuse to actually actively start looking for new music.

 When I was younger, I always used to be on the constant search for new (to me) bands/artists to add to my iPod. I found so much of my music from "related artist" pages, and now that I've got Spotify it's even easier to find new music.

 Recently I've been listening to a lot of house/electro style music - getting in the mood for Summer obviously - and it's really been putting me in such a good mood as I'm dancing around my bedroom. My favourite on this playlist has to be "Heatstroke" though as it's a mixture; it's chill, dance-y, and such a tune all in one 4 minute song. I've no idea whether it's being released in the charts (it does involve Calvin Harrise, Pharrell Williams and Ariana Grande. so probably) but I just know if it is it'll be an absolute BANGER!

Eating Out Habits

15:29


♪ Little L - Jamiroquai
If there's such a thing as eating out too often then I'm not sorry to be guilty of it. Yes, I may not be on the most high end budget, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't treat myself to a meal with friends every now and then, right? It's not like I'm spending £100 on baked beans on toast courtesy of a really famous chef is it?

What can I say, I absolutely love food! I love trying things I've never tried before and go to restaurants I've never been. I'm not fussy at all, and will eat almost anything...except offal, ew! But even when I don't like something, I do actually like to try it again just to make sure that I still don't like it, because I've had it plenty of times where my tastebuds will change. I used to hate sweetcorn, then love it, then hate it, and now I can't get enough of a good corn on the cob! 

I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that frequently went on holiday to some unusual places, and with unusual places comes unusual food the majority of the time. I was never afraid to try something different, let's put it this way. I remember once in Vietnam I saw seahorses in a shop's freezer section, and cat on the menu of a restaurant - I don't think I would ever try cat but seahorses I could probably deal with, haha! 

Whenever I go to restaurants,  I like to try something that I've never had before, rather than stick to what I know. It's not the safest option, as you may not like what you've been given, but I'd rather live my food life on the edge than stick to the same boring meals each time. I do sometimes have meals that I lean towards, but the same meal in different restaurants can be completely different. For example, whenever I go on holiday I always love to have a seafood pasta of some description and it is always on point - it's kind of turned into a little personal holiday tradition for me. I also have a tendency to order anything with coleslaw, or add coleslaw onto my order as a side dish - coleslaw is life and I love to try different home made ones.

What things do you do when eating out?

Being Positive

18:20


♪ Smells Like Summer - Early Hours

Due to one reason or another, I didn't do a blog post as promised yesterday, but I will be making up for it by posting today and tomorrow!

Part of the reason that I want to focus on something this month has been my recent lack of positivity, which to be completely honest, isn't like me at all. I'm not saying that you need to be positive 24/7, but I like to think that the majority of the time I can see the good in every situation. So to get myself back into the mindset, I've compiled a few things which have helped me in the past, and I hope you can get something out of too, to lead a positive life for yourself:

☽ Positive thinking creates positive results
I believe I read somewhere that there was a study on this; you are what you think. If you keep thinking to yourself that you're never going to get that job, then the chances are you won't. The more positive you are with your thoughts, the more that positivity is attracted to you! I know that sounds really new-age-bohemian bullshit, but I've seen it happen both ways.

☽ See the silver lining
Instead of looking at the bad side of a situation you need to openly look for a good side. This one is by far the most difficult thing to be able to do, but once you get the hang of it, it'll come naturally to you. Let's just say that you lose your job; instead of moping around and feeling sorry for yourself, you should think that maybe it wasn't what you were meant for, maybe life is leading you to something better. As I mentioned before it isn't easy by any means but I do feel it makes for a more positive life.

☽ Learn that you can't please everyone
I'm a people pleaser - I don't like to upset anyone or make them feel annoyed. On the flipside, if I felt someone was annoyed with or disliked me, I would try everything in my power to be extra nice to them to make them change their minds. Life doesn't work this way, sometimes people just don't like you, and you've got to accept that and move on. Obviously, don't turn around and be a complete bitch to them, still treat them with respect, but don't go out of your way to make them like you as this only makes you feel worse about yourself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, it's just the fact that some people just aren't going to like you for one reason or another, it doesn't make you a bad person it just makes you human. You just need to accept it!

☽ Fake it til you make it
Now this one sounds a little odd I'll admit, but it does work - the brain works in mysterious ways! Not feeling too confident? Pretend that you're confident and walk with your head held high with a beat in your step. Feeling a bit down? Tell yourself that you're gonna have a good day, smile like it's the best day of your life and act happy. Little things like this trick your brain into thinking that you're feeling that way, and it will soon become natural for you to actually feel this way.

I can honestly say that I've used each of these in the past and they have worked wonders for my mindset and positivity. Obviously, these changes don't happen overnight and you need to keep at it for a while, but trust me when I say that they will come! What do you do to stay positive?

It begins in May...

11:43


♪ Billie Jean - The Civil Wars

Can this year just stop and chill for a bit, please? I just want to know how we're already on the fifth month of 2017 and I honestly feel as though I haven't even started yet. I need to get my butt into gear and pronto!


May is going to be the month where I get into a routine, I stop procrastinating and I stop getting distracted by such futile things. This month I want to fully immerse myself in the things that I enjoy doing and focus on being where I want to be in life.

On a blogging side of things, I've set myself the challenge of blogging every other day to get me back into the swing of things. Blogging is something that I do for fun, but I also see it as a way of really focussing on something - when I blog, all I see is the text box and all other distractions go out of the window, so I'm hoping that'll reinforce other aspects of my life as well.

I don't have many other goals for May really other than getting into a consistent routine of sorts. This is something that I've been needing to do for a while so I feel that I need the whole month to get acquainted with the idea - I read somewhere that it takes 21 days to form a habit, so we better get started right?

Here's to May, and the joys it will bring. I hope you have a good one, have you got any goals?