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Monday 28 September 2015

Music Mondays | September 28th 2015

Hi all,
I have a definite favorite on my playlist this week. Battles by Hudson Taylor. It's a song I've been hitting repeat on, and dancing around too. It's a really great song to just jump up and down to, which I did a lot of today, until my health condition decided to make me stop, and I wound up collapsing. Oh well. The slower songs work to chill me out when I'm feeling unwell, so this mix has the perfect song for energetic moments, and moments when I need to be lying in bed.
So have a listen, and let me know which song is your favorite.


Wednesday 23 September 2015

That's (P)interesting | 10 Nail Looks I Love

Hi all,
I wanted to start a new feature here on Messy Little Moments, because I love Pintrest. I spend so much time putting together boards, and browsing awesome posts. So I wanted to share some of the things that I find. 
To start off with, I thought I'd share with you ten different nail looks that I absolutely adore. I'm not fantastic at nail art, but I want to get better, and these looks are my inspiration. Varying in style, and difficulty levels. All of these designs caught my eye, and I just had to pin them. Take a look and let me know which ones you love.
Also, be sure to subscribe to my site via email or bloglovin', to follow what else I'm loving on Pintrest.
Here's a sneak peak of the looks.

Marias Nail Art and Polish Blog: Cherry blossom nail art on Nouvelle Vague:  Mani Monday: Nude and Navy Blue Floral Nail Tutorial:  nail Design fall summer fake art cute acrylic diy polish winter:

Check out the rest of the looks on my board here



Tuesday 22 September 2015

Tv Tuesdays | Downton Abbey | Beginning of the End

Hi all,
Just as a warning, if you're not caught up to the current episode shown in the UK. Please be aware there will be spoilers ahead.
This past weekend saw the start of the final series of Downton Abbey. I've been a fan of the show since the very beginning, and so it's sad to see it coming to an end. However, I do feel as if it's time to let this one go. 
What was, in the first two seasons, an incredible show and one of my favorites, has in my opinion lost some of its appeal in later seasons. This is largely in part, to the departure of some of my favorite characters. However, I was still pleased to have it back, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all ends.
As far as the first episode goes. I think it did a good job of laying out what the main storylines will be over the course of the final season. Each key character has a little something going on, from the upcoming wedding of Carson and Mrs Hughes to Edith and Mary both breaking out on their own in their individual ways, tackling the working world either at home or away from it.
There seem to be some interesting things on the horizon, and already I was getting ideas in my head about how all of the storylines will tie off.
No doubt, this season will see some love interests cropping up for Mary, and possibly even Edith, who up until this point, has not been doing well in the love department. Here's hoping she'll get a better ride in the last season. It's about time she had some positivity in her storylines.
I'd like to believe we've seen the end of the deaths, but this is Downton, so I'm not counting anything out just yet. 
All in all, I liked the first episode, and found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion, which was nice after some serious heart wrenching episodes in the past.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, and depending on how things go and if I have things to say, I may be writing more about the season before it's over.
For now, I'll just say that I'm happy to have Downton back on the screen.

Monday 21 September 2015

Music Mondays | Sept 21st 2015

Hi all,
Another week full of great tracks. I've found some that I really love this week. Check them out in the playlist below, and let me know what you think in the comments.



Be sure to subscribe to my site, to check out a new playlist every week.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Tv Tuesdays | Pretty Little Liars: Change is Coming (Spoilers)

Hi all, 
Today I wanted to talk a little about one of my favorite shows, Pretty Little Liars. This post will contain spoilers for the most recent shown season, so if you don't want anything spoiled, then please don't continue to read.
I'm not going to be doing a review of this show, though in the future, I may, but for this post I wanted to focus on the ending of season 6a. The last episode Game Over, Charles, is I would say the most anticipated episode ever. The answers we got in that episode were one after the other, and for the most part I thought it was a fantastic episode.
However, I want to voice my opinions about the ending. The five year time skip, was entirely unexpected to me, and I don't quite know what to think about it.
On the one hand, I understand why they're doing it, because the ages the girls were getting to, graduating and heading off to college, it would have been difficult to keep things going. So in that sense I do get why they're moving things ahead. However, a five year time skip, feels like we're going to lose a lot of the storyline from the current timeline. Though we got a lot of answers, it didn't all feel well wrapped up. There are still a lot of questions, and reactions I'd like to see.
They never did deal with the girls moms, all being locked in the basement. So I guess we just assume they got out, and we won't get to see their reactions, or the girls to everything that happened.
Moving ahead so much, I also wonder about the sub plots. The relationships, which we've spent five and a half seasons watching develop, and now we're skipping so much time, that things will have changed drastically.
I'll admit, I'm intrigued about how this skip is going to play out, what it is that's brought the girls back together, and how well they'll go into what happened while they were all away from Rosewood. However, I do have my concerns, and top among them, is that the series won't be as good with such a drastic change, as it has been to this moment.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to the time skip? Or do you have some concerns?

Music Mondays | September 14th 2015

Hi all,
Sorry, this is being posted a little late, but I wanted to make sure I got it up, because I found some really great tracks this week.
Here's what I've been hitting repeat on.



Tuesday 8 September 2015

TV Tuesdays | Community

Hi all,
I wanted to start a new weekly segment based around TV shows, as there are a lot of great shows out there, and I like watching/talking about them. So this week, I'm going to be talking about one of my most recent watches/obsessions, Community.

 I got into this show, after my brother recommended it to me, while I was looking for something to watch on Netflix. It's a show that I've known about for a long time, and often considered watching, but never actually did. I once watched the first half of the first episode, but something made me stop and I didn't go back. So this time, I decided to watch it and give it a longer trial than half an episode.
I am so glad that I did.
Often with me, when I find a new show that I love, I kind of binge watch it until I run out, and this is exactly what happened here. Before I knew it, I had watched all six seasons, and I was desperately wanting more.
Community has a great group of characters, all played to perfection, who really pull you into the show.
This is honestly one of the funniest shows I've seen, and the sheer level of randomness is outstanding. So if you love quirky comedies, then this one is definitely for you.
Image result for annie and jeff
At the moment, there are six seasons, and it's currently uncertain if there will be a seventh, or even a possible movie. I have to say, I am completely on board with a new season or a movie or both, because I do not want this to end.
My favorite character in the show has to be Abed, he's one of the quirkiest and TV/Movie obsessed, with a lot of awesome quotes and pop culture references.
The biggest reason I want more, though, is Jeff and Annie. I could not love those two more, and I do not feel like their story is over. In my head it definitely isn't because in my head, they are perfect for one another. 
Basically, I loved this show, for all it's insanely random moments. The paintball episodes, the very creative animated episodes. This is the kind of show where you think it can't get any weirder, and then it does, and you love that it does.
I highly recommend this show. It's definitely one that I'll go back to and re-watch, especially all my favorite episodes.

Monday 31 August 2015

Music Monday's | August 31st 2015

Hi all,
This week I have come across some really amazing songs. Some of these are from artists I've heard of before, but a lot are new to me, which is really exciting, because I love to discover new music. Of the mix I have this week, I would have to say that Circles is my absolute favorite. I have been playing this on repeat while writing, a lot this week.
So check out the songs in the playlist below, and let me know which is your favorite. Or, just which songs you're loving this week.
Be sure to subscribe to my site, for new playlists every Monday.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Music Monday's | August 24th 2015

Hi all,
Sorry, this is coming a little late. I've had issues posting today, so it's technically Tuesday, but only just, and I wanted to get this up. I've also decided to tweak the layout of these posts, and put the actual playlist inside the post. Hope you like it better this way.
There have been some great songs that I've loved this week. Here's the best of them.


Monday 17 August 2015

Music Mondays | August 17th 2015

Hi all,
I'm back again with another list of the songs I've been loving this week. This will be a weekly feature, of all the songs, old and new, that I've been listening to over the past week. I have some great ones this week, including a new track from one of my long time favorites, Delta Goodrem.

  • A Girl, A Boy and A Graveyard by Jeremy Messersmith
  • You Don't Know How Lucky You Are by Keaton Henson
  • Wings by Delta Goodrem
  • The Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov
  • Nervous Girls by Lucy Hale
  • Glory by Jean-Michel Jarre and M83
  • Fight Song by Rachel Platten
  • All of the Stars by Ed Sheeran
I'm especially excited by this week's list, because not only did I stumble across Delta Goodrems new song, but I finally got around to listening to Lucy Hale's full album. She's been one of my favorite actresses for a while now, and ever since watching Nashville, I've been getting into country more and more. I loved her album, and the track I chose was my absolute favorite.
You can listen to all of the songs, by checking out my Spotify playlist.

Be sure to comment and let me know what you think of these songs, and what you've been loving this week. Subscribe for more music posts, and other posts as well, and please share.

Monday 10 August 2015

Music Mondays | Aug 10th 2015

Hi all,
One of the things I love the most, is music. I love finding new songs and falling in love with them, so I decided to share a few of my finds each Monday. Not all of these will be new releases all the time, it'll just be songs that are new to me, and maybe new to you as well.
This week, these are the songs that have grabbed my attention.

  • Sweet Nothing - Gabrielle Aplin
  • A Knife in the Ocean - Foals
  • The Good in Things - Hero Fisher
  • Good Goodbye - Lianne La Havas
  • Restless - New Order
  • I Feel Your Love - Laura Marling
  • Heroine - Little Boots
  • Grown Up - Emilie Nicolas
These are the songs that have absolutely got me hooked right now, specially Grown Up  and Good Goodbye.
Check out the playlist and let me know what you think of my picks.



Saturday 30 May 2015

Random Moments | Favorites Right Now | May 2015

Hi all,
I've been thinking for a while about what blog post to do, and today my sister gave me the suggestion of sharing some of my favorites right now. So my brother, sister and I came up with some categories, and here's what I'm loving at the moment.

Category
Hannah
Animated Movie
Tangled
Action Movie
Divergent
Comic Book Movie
Avengers Age of Ultron
Drama Movie
Casablanca
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Guardians of the Galaxy
World Cinema
Life is Beautiful
Comedy Movie
His Girl Friday
Band
The Oh Hellos
Male Musician
Luke Sital-Singh
Female Musician
Imogen Heap
TV Show
Pretty Little Liars
Anime
Nichijou
Cartoon
The Simpson
Video Game
Forza Horizon 2
Book
All The Bright Places
Graphic Novel/Manga
Maus
Sweet Food
Twinkies
Savoury Food
Pizza
Meal
Chilli Salmon with Rice
Hot Drink
Pumpkin Spice Latte
Cold Drink
Mocha Frappe
Animal
Turtle
Fruit
Passion Fruit
Season
Summer
Website
Goodreads
Candy
Jelly Beans
Ice Cream
Pistachio Magnum
Sport
Swimming
Actor
Chris Pratt
Actress
Shailene Woodley
YouTube Channel
CTFxC
Song
Dark by Luke Sital-Singh

Monday 18 May 2015

Life Moments | Spring Cleaning

Hi all,
As you may know if you've been following my weight loss blog A Skinny Fit, since September last year, I've been on a weight loss journey. Starting at 185lbs, I'm aiming to get down to 117lbs, and I'm only 21lbs away now.
Because of this weight loss, I've changed dress sizes. I was in a UK16 at my highest weight, and now I'm mostly in size 10, with a few 8's fitting me as well. So my room was filled with clothing that no longer fit me, and if I stick to my plan, won't ever fit me again.
So I knew it was time for a little bit of spring cleaning. I started yesterday, and I've been bagging up several items of clothing to get rid of.
It feels great, knowing that all of these clothes, which are now really big on me, used to fit or even be too small for me.
This is the first time I have ever really enjoyed doing spring cleaning, because it's been showing me how far I've come with my weight loss, and so even though I'm not at goal yet, it feels amazing knowing that I've already made such a huge difference.
The other fun part? Finding things in my wardrobe, from years ago when I used to be skinny. Trying them on and actually having them fit!
It's making me insanely happy, but then again, maybe that's also partly because of the iced coffee I made myself. Nothing tastes quite as good as iced coffee, especially when you're working hard clearing out your room.

It's not just about my personal weight loss though. I also needed to clear out my room, because it's not that big, and I just have so much stuff in it that I don't need/want/use. So I'm taking control and clearing it out, and it's feeling really good to just tidy things up.

Of course, I may not wind up with many clothes left once I'm done, but hey, that just means I get an excuse to go shopping.

Monday 27 April 2015

Movie Moments | Avengers Age of Ultron Review (No Spoilers)

It is my firm belief, that when you find a movie, which is over two hours long, and it feels like it went quick, and you'd happily finish watching it and then turn around, buy a new ticket and watch it all over again. You've found an incredible movie.
This, is how I felt this afternoon as I sat in the cinema watching the latest Avenger movie.
For me, Age of Ultron wasn't just a great movie, it was an incredible movie.
Recently, I rewatched all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, in the lead up to going to see Age of Ultron. So all the movies are fresh in my memory, and I can say, without a doubt that Age of Ultron is my favourite.

Now, I've heard a lot of opinions that differ from mine. I saw the movie with my brother, and he liked it, but was disappointed.
I most definitely was not.

The thing that caught me about this movie, is that it had such a great balance between action, comedy, emotion and drama.
There were some incredible scenes. The acting was brilliant. The plot, for me, was one of the best in any comic book movie I've  seen, and overall it was just an incredibly entertaining movie.

I'd say that it's definitely a more serious movie than the first Avengers movie, and this was one of the things that made it so interesting to me.

There were some great interactions between the charcters, and the introduction of some really interesting new ones.

Overall, I was incredibly impressed by this movie, and from me, it definitely gets a 10/10.

Sunday 26 April 2015

TV Moments | Poldark Review

Hi all,
Today marks the end of a series I have been watching avidly. The BBC mini series of Poldark. If you don't know what Poldark is, I'll fill you in a little.
Poldark is a series based off of the book series by Winston Graham. It follows Ross Poldark, as he returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall. Returning he finds his world in ruins. His father dead. Their mines closed. His house wrecked and his sweetheart engaged.

The series moves fast, and over the eight episodes, it covers a lot of years. So much happens that the pacing of the show never feels slow. 
I think one of the best things about this show, is how amazing the characters are. Ross Poldark is a character you can really root for. He has this unfaltering integrity, and he stands up and fights for what he believes in.
Demelza, was an amazing character as well, and played so well. I loved her generosity, and the development of her character.
Each of the characters was portrayed perfectly, and I couldn't imagine anyone else taking any of the roles. There was a wonderful balance of good characters, and well played villains.
There were definitely highs and lows in the emotion of this series. It moved swiftly between happy moments, and despair. 

The series as a whole was fantastic. I'll definitely be tuning in to the second series when it airs. I'll also be getting the books, and working my way through them.
This has fast become one of my favorite shows. I'd highly recommend it.

Saturday 14 March 2015

Movie Moments | 5 Most Anticipated Movies

Hi all,
Movies this year! Wow. There are some big ones that's for sure, and a lot of those big ones just so happen to be movies I cannot wait to see. So I came up with my top 5 most anticipated movies. Here they are.

Honarable Mentions

  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  • Fantastic Four
  • San Andreas
  • Mission Impossible 5

5.

Insurgent (2015) Poster
Insurgent
I loved the books (mostly), I really enjoyed the first movie, and the trailer for the second has me excited for what's to come. So this definitely makes it onto my top 5 movies.
















4.

Jurassic World (2015) Poster
Jurassic World
I love the Jurassic Park series, and so when I learnt that there's a new movie coming out this year. I got really excited. Then I saw the trailer and I got even more excited. 
















3.

Ant-Man (2015) Poster
Ant-Man
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, is by far my favorite movie franchise. The trailer for this looks fantastic, so it definitely makes it onto the list.
















2.

Paper Towns (2015) Poster
Paper Towns
The book is one of my favorites, written by one of my favorite authors. So I am really, really excited for this release.

















1.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Poster
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Even though there are some amazing movies coming out this year, this movie is just miles ahead of them all. I keep on watching the trailers, and each time I do I get more excited to go and see this movie.

Friday 13 March 2015

Online Moments | Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion | Con Man

Hi all,
Today I got an email about the wrap up of the Classic Alice Indie GoGo campaign, and at the bottom of that email it had links to other campaigns that are running, and something grabbed my eye. A campaign for a show called Con Man. Now, it wasn't the title of this that grabbed my attention, it was the thumbnail, which was a picture of Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion.
Now if you don't know why this got me practically jumping out of my seat in excitement, it probably means you've never seen Firely. Well, Firefly is one of my all time favorite shows. When I found out about it, it had already been cancelled after just one season. I've always wanted more episodes, and despite the amount of time that has passed, I can't quite let it go. So when I saw that Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion were working together on a project and raising money through Indie Go Go. My initial thought was, could this be linked to a Firefly spin off or sequel? I was ready to freak out.
It turns out, it isn't a show about Firefly that they're making. However, what they are making sounds awesome enough that the excitement is still bubbling away.
You can check out the Con Man Campaign to find out what it is they are making, and to donate to help them make it as amazing as they can.






Wednesday 18 February 2015

Photo Moments | Week 1 | Bird by the Water

Hi all,
One of the things I love is photography. I recently bought a new camera, and I've been taking a lot of shots.
I thought it would be a fun idea is I shared one photo each week that I've taken.
This week. A shot of a bird sat on a pole in the middle of the water.
I really liked this shot when I looked at it on my computer. I hope you like it too.

Friday 6 February 2015

Online Moments : #SaveAlice

The campaign to save the amazing literary web series Classic Alice, has only 11 days left and they've not yet reached their goal.
Please consider donating to keep this show going.
http://igg.me/at/savealice/x/9568784
If you haven't seen it, I suggest you check it out on YouTube.
It's truly the best web series I've come across.

Saturday 31 January 2015

Fitness Moments | Going it (Almost) Alone

Hi all,
As you know, I'm currently on a journey to lose weight. I started September 1st 2014, and since then I've lost a total of 35lbs. I did this, for three weeks alone at home, in which I lost 8lbs, and then after that I joined Weight Watchers with my younger sister and my mum.
Now, Weight Watchers was working really well for me. I lost weight every week, and managed to get my 10% weight loss goal. However, two weeks ago I gained half a pound, which isn't a huge deal, though I wasn't expecting it because I'd been good. I'd worked out, kept to my points allowance, and honestly I didn't see a reason for the gain. 
Still, as my class leader told me, sometimes weeks like that happen, and we were both sure that by the next class I would have lost that half a pound, and some extra too. I was motivated!
I went to the gym, went out on a walk with my family, I did some workouts at home. Even on bad health days when I couldn't stand up because of my P.O.T.S  I was finding ways to exercise without standing. So when I got to class, I was pretty confident I could get that half a pound off, and some extra. Then I got on the scales. And...well it wasn't good. I'd stayed the same. Again, this isn't awful, but having two bad weeks in a row, when I've done so well sticking to plan, it was disappointing.

So this got me thinking. I needed to change something. My mum felt the same, because her weight loss had slowed down. So we decided to change things up and try a low carb diet. We've been doing a bunch of research on the principals, and we're tracking all our food and carb intake on Myfitnesspal. For me, I'm aiming to have 20% of my calories coming from carbs, which is around 60g a day. 
After we'd decided this, we made another big choice. We decided to leave Weight Watchers.
We bought some scales from Amazon. Ones with great reviews, and which give accurate weights. Now our weigh in day is a Saturday, and we're going to keep track of it at home. I even made us each a chart to track it each week.

So, how is it going? Well, I started low carbs four days ago. Today, being Saturday, is our new weigh in, so despite it being less than a week since our weigh in last Tuesday, I got on the scales to start my new weigh ins. I was very shocked! I'd lost 3lbs. In just four days! 
It's safe to say that I'm liking this new lower carb diet, even if I have had to cut some of my favorite foods.
I haven't been very well this week, and so my exercise has been practically non-existent, and yet I still saw a great result on the scale. I'm excited to see how it goes in future, now that I'm trying a new diet approach, and I'm not attending class.
I'm slightly nervous that without the classes I'll lose track, because in the past I have. However, with my mum and sister doing it with me, and our set weigh in days, and charts. I'm hopeful that we'll all keep losing weight.
38lbs to go!

Sunday 18 January 2015

Health Moments | P.O.T.S - My Story

Hi all,
I mentioned a while ago in my post on Getting Active, that I have a health problem called Postural Orthistatic Tachycardia Syndrome (P.O.T.S). In that post, I mentioned a little about it, but I wanted to write a proper post about it, because it is a large part of my life, and affects me in a lot of ways.
So, what is P.O.T.S?

Image Credit - Freedigitalphotos.net
You can find out all about the condition at Pots UK. There's some really helpful information there, about symptoms, triggers, diagnosis, and support amongst other things.

P.O.T.S is a very variable illness, some people will get more symptoms than others, and some will have more mobility than others. Below, I'll list the main symptoms of the illness, and the ones that affect me personally. The ones with an asterisk are ones which affect me every day, the ones that are just in bold and italics are ones I get frequently, but not daily, and the others are ones I don't suffer from, or very rarely suffer from.

  • Dizziness or pre-syncope (almost fainting) *
  • Syncope (Fainting)
  • Palpitations
  • Headaches *
  • Brain Fog (Difficulty thinking/poor memory) *
  • Tiredness
  • Shakiness
  • Nausea
  • Chest Pain
  • Poor Sleep *
  • Visual Problems
  • Sweating
  • Purplish discoloration of skin due to blood pooling in hands and feet
  • Bladder Problems
My Story.
When I was sixteen years old, I was on a placement in a school through my college course. I was training in childcare, and working in a school a few days a week, while other days attending college. 
Although through my childhood, I hadn't always been the healthiest, suffering from occasional dizzy spells, fainting one of two times, and a few other complaints, for the most part I was ok. At sixteen, I was fairly active. I used to walk to and from college/placement five days a week. I enjoyed going out with friends and family, and was looking forward to completing college, getting a job and learning to drive, among other things.
One morning, while on placement at the school, I was working in, I wasn't feeling well. I'd had a recent bout of illness, and I thought it was nothing major, just a cold. However, on that morning, I remember going into the school, feeling particularly bad.
It was as the students were arriving for class, that I began to feel worse. I remember standing to one side of the room, as parents, teachers and students were wandering around. The next thing I know I'm on the floor. A couple of teachers and parents are around me, and my main supervisor was asking people if I tripped, or if I'd fainted. One of the parents told her that I'd fainted.
I sat down for a while, until I'd gotten my bearings, and was given a drink, and then one of the teachers drove me home. 
My older sister was waiting there, after being contacted by the school, and told I'd fainted and would be coming home. By this time I was ok standing and walking around, and just felt tired. My sister had made a doctors appointment for me, and she took me up there. I was initially told it was probably nothing, and just to rest up a little bit. So I did.
I woke up the next morning, ready to go back to the school for my next day of work. However, my body had other ideas. As soon as I stood up out of bed, I collapsed to the floor.
My parents heard the fall and came in, and when they tried to get me up, I immediately collapsed again.
I was taken back to the doctors, and referred to the Syncope Clinic at the hospital. During this time I was collapsing everyday, every time I stood up. I couldn't move around without having someone support me up, and it was scary. I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was that I didn't have control over my body anymore.
I went to my appointment, and had to have a tilt table test done. Which meant being strapped onto a table, and taken from a lying position to a standing one, several times, while they monitored my heart rate and blood pressure.
The results? Well, each time I went into a standing position, my heart rate would jump up much too quickly, and end up going really fast.
The diagnosis was made. I had P.O.T.S.
I was put on medications, which did help to control the symptoms a little, but not much. I was still collapsing everyday, but not as soon as I woke up. Sometimes I'd get most of the day standing and collapse later. Sometimes I'd only collapse if I'd been standing for a long time, but some days I'd wake up and fall down straight away, and be down all day.
Because of this, I had to drop out of college.
Over the last six and a half years I've had frequent appointments, tests and alterations in my medications. Now I'm talking Midodrine and Ivabradine, and it's the best combination I've had.
I get days where I don't fall down at all, though I do still suffer from other symptoms, but it isn't perfect. I still collapse every week, sometimes several times in a day. I still have days, like today, where I wake up and immediately collapse to the floor.
Some improvements I have seen, is that I can collapse and after resting up for a couple hours, I'll sometimes be able to stand again.
However, I do sometimes need to use a wheelchair. I'm not allowed out on my own, even in the chair, because I've been known to collapse while sitting, and I get no warning of when I'm about to drop.
I'm not allowed to stay at home on my own, because I frequently collapse, hit my head and end up unconscious on the floor.
I'm not allowed to drive. I can't go out and get a job. This illness had limited my life in ways I never imagined having my life limited.
It's a mix of good days and bad days, and I try my hardest to focus on the positives.
I'm able to write, which is a passion of mine, and I've published four books so far. I'm able to run two blogs, and that's been so much fun. I've also been able to get a BA (Hons) Degree through distance courses with the Open University.

This illness is probably something I'll suffer with for the rest of my life, but I can hope for it to burn out. I can hope for it to become better controlled. Until then? I'll just make the most of what I can do.

Have you been affected by an illness? Let me know in the comments.

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Beauty Moments | A Brand Worth Blogging About

Hello all,
Recently you may have noticed I've been blogging quite a lot about fitness and dieting, and while I definitely do have more posts coming on that topic soon. I wanted to do something a bit different today, because after all, this is not a fitness blog, it's simply a general lifestyle blog of all things I love.
So, what have I been loving recently? Well, when it comes to beauty products, there's only one brand that sticks out as an absolute love.
That brand is...

*Please note, all of the products mentioned are my own, and so are the opinions. I wasn't paid to write this, the products were given to me for review, and this post has not been sponsered*

I first discovered this brand through my Birchbox. I received the They're Real Mascara in the first box I got. I'd been looking for a great mascara, and with this product I definitely found it. One of the things I love so much about it, is that with literally every other mascara I'd tried, after wearing it all day my eyes became itchy, and I needed to remove it before the day was over. With this mascara, it's comfortable to wear all day. My lashes don't feel brittle, and the look I get with this product is perfect.
After I got the mascara, I also received a sample of the Porefessional Primer. This is another great product, the texture is smooth, and it really does reduce the look of pores on my skin. Great!
The last product I received through my Birchbox, was the High Beam highlighter. This isn't as much of a wow product as the mascara, but still, it's a great product, and when I do use it, I love the look it helps me to achieve.
By this point, I already loved the brand, but a couple of days ago, my mom got me a set from Benefit, and in it were some of my tried and loved products, including the mascara, the primer and the highligher. There were also some new to me products.
The first I'd like to mention is the Benetint which is a lip and cheek product, and can I just say, wow! I mean it, I didn't really know what to think of a liquid that was both a blush and a lip product, but I used it for the first time yesterday, and it was amazing. As a blush, it blends so nicely, and it's so easy to apply. It gives just a touch of color, that looks natural. 
I'm not usually a blush wearer, but this is definitely going into my regular make-up bag for frequent use.
As a lip product, it gives a nice stain that lasts a long time. I did find it a touch dry, so a gloss over the top works well with this product for a great look.
Lastly, the product I wanted to mention is the They're Real Push Up Gel Eyeliner. WOW! I couldn't believe it when I tried this product. I've used a lot of different eyeliners for the upper lash line. I've tried, gel, pen, liquid. It's one of my favorite makeup items to use, but I couldn't ever get a great finish. The lines went too big, or wonky, or too thick.
Then I tried this one, and when it says it's lash hugging, they really mean that it's lash hugging. I was amazed when I put it on, and first time applying it, I got a smooth, even line. It's easy to apply, the line it gives it thin and hugs the lash line. You can of course make the line bigger for a more dramatic look as well. It's my new favorite eyeliner.
This is a brand that I would definitely recommend. I am yet to find a product I don't like, Great stuff.