A-Z Guide to Happiness: T & U

T & U

I'm running out of days now so I'm having to double up on a few letters!!

T - Talking!!!!!

Ok, so it's not always easy to voice how you feel, but talking really really does help in several ways!
Firstly, if you're going through a tough time, you could talk to someone and open up to them and they'll be able to help you and support you through it, I've done this recently and I now feel more cared for than I have in a very long time because I know I have people that are there when I need an extra push.

It's also helpful because you don't necessarily have to talk about whatever's going on, but you could talk about other things. Use talking as a distraction! Talk to someone about random stuff like.. I Don't know, if they were an animal what would they be? If they had a super power what would they want it to be? Anything to keep your mind busy :)

Finally, you can help others! Someone could be really having a tough time, and just by dropping them a little message saying hey I hope you're ok, or inviting them for a coffee or something, they may not say yes or want to talk, but I guarantee if that person is in a bad place and you do that, you'll make them realise that they are noticed and people do care.


U - Underwear

This one does sound a little bit weird I know. I was struggling to think of something that begins with U, but the reason I've chosen Underwear is for your own point of view rather than others.

If I wear my comfy pants and bra etc that are really old but I Dont throw away because I like ot be comfortable, I don't necessarily feel attractive. Howeverrrrr, if I have a set of really pretty underwear, I honestly do feel more confident.. and confidence is always good nowadays! I struggle a lot with body confidence so putting on something that I feel I look good in, and I can look in a mirror and be like hey, I actually look sort of ok in this! it's a massive thing!!

What makes you happy??

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: S

S

Singing

I think I have always sung really from about the age of 6 or something. When I was in year 3 at middle school I joined the choir, and that was it from there really! I always loved singing and was always belting out the hymns in our assemblies.

I begged my parents for singing lessons and they always said no until one day I wrote my first song, after that they then let me go for singing lessons and within 3 years I had achieve grade 8 of the Rock School exams.

I studied music at college, which involved a lot of performing and I loved every minute of being on stage with my very dysfunctional family :) I was with such a talented bunch of musicians and I really hope they make it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB6_W7YzCmY

I love singing a variety of things from Rock to Country! My favourite is acoustic stuff though. I like to take chart songs and make an acoustic version. My old duet partner Harry was incredible, him and I always performed an acoustic set, he would play guitar and sing harmonies and I would sing the main melody, and if i say so myself it sounded bloody amazing! I'm gutted I don't get the chance to perform with him anymore (Adult life got in the way for me, and he's now at uni) as he is one of the most talented musicians I've ever met!

Another thing that's good about singing is if you are listening to music and focusing on the lyrics, it is a very good distraction against anxiety or things that are worrying you or making you feel low!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69PevoT0WOw

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: R

R

I love reading!

My favourite types of books are ones that have an element of mystery, maybe a bit of comedy sometimes, I quite like stories that are believable/true also.

Here are some of my favourite books:

- All of the Cathy Glass books! Cathy Glass is an author who is a foster carer, her books are all true and each about a child's story. A child that she has taken in temporarily, or long term, in order to try help them and their families. It is incredible what she does, and the things that these children have been through as well, but she never gives up on them and 90% of the time, she breaks through all the barriers and the child will open up and progress.

- Nothing left to Lose.. I LOVED this book. I was going to paste the blurb on here but is full of spoilers! It's basically a story about a young girl, tragedy, hierarchy, pain and love. I definitely definitely recommend it! On the Kindle it's only £1.94 - if you want to read a little more click on this link and you can see a bit about the book, but it does sort of give the story line away!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nothing-Left-Lose-Guarded-Hearts-ebook/dp/B00GGMQLFO

- The Body Finder - This is probably one of my more far fetched books that I've read, but I still love the series! If I remember right there are 4 books. It's basically about a young girl who is able to sense the echos of things that have been killed in an un natural way, she can also sense the imprint on the killer, this matches the echo. She finds animals that have been killed e.g a bird killed by a cat etc at first, then as she gets older she discovers other things, and eventually teams up with a group of other people with special talents to help solve crimes. Should totally read it if you want something that gives you a bit of an adrenaline rush as some bits are quite tense! It's an easy read too :)

I get very into my books if I'm honest, I can't help it. A couple of years ago on holiday I read 7 books in one week!!! I only took 3 with me, but luckily my dad had his kindle so i borrowed that for the week :) I do read very quickly, oops! I do sometimes maybe get a little toooo into my books lol, sometimes I actually have to try work out whether I actually did something or if that was a character in my book.. sad I know!! I just love it! :)

What books do you like?

Much Love

LJ Xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness : I

I

Hellloooo

So, it was actually kind of hard to think of something beginning with I, but I think I'm going to go for Ingrid Nilsen.

For those of you that don't know of Ingrid, she is a youtuber (MissGlamorazzi). Her videos mostly consist of beauty, makeup, fashion, she also has a vlogging channel by the name of The Grid Monster. She is a very beautiful young woman, who seems like a good laugh, very down to earth and positive, someone I definitely would love to meet.

 I used to watch her videos a few years ago, then sort of got into the british crowd of youtubers, but lately I have got back into watching her since her Coming Out video was posted a couple of months ago with over 11 million views..

This video was one of the most inspirational things (probably second to Shane Dawson's coming out video). I think this might be because they have finally found the confidence to just be them, and be happy! I would love to one day be able to be me, I'm not saying I'm coming out or anything but in general, I often put on some sort of persona around certain people to attempt to fit in, and it just isn't me.

If you want to watch the video (if you haven't seen it you may have been living under a rock :P) I have linked it here:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7WRYXVh9M

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: H

H

Home :)

My favourite place to be in the world is home, I often like to travel and go on little road trips for a few days, but I always always love the feeling of being back in my own bed.

I live in a reasonably small town, there's not a lot to do here, but I only live about 35 mins away from Norwich and 45 mins away from another town thats just a fair bit bigger than where I live! So I can always go there for stuff to do.

My town isn't the nicest of places, but its not really that bad either. You have all sorts of people, not a classy place but also not a rough one, I can walk through town and feel safe and not worried about someone starting a fight or something randomly! The only problem with having a small town is everybody knows your business, sometimes they know it even before you do!

I live in a 5 bed house, it used to be 4 then we got an extension, and this is where we have always lived. When I was little it was Mum, Dad, Me, my two sisters and my brother, my siblings have all moved out now though so it's just me at home. I'm quite happy here for the time being, I don't see the point in moving out on my own to pay for a house that I'm barely going to be in because I'm at work all the time, plus right now I need the company of my parents. I save up some money every pay day that is going towards my own mortgage for when I am ready to move out :) Although every now and then I do dip into it for a little treat but not often.

My room is a theme of duck egg blue and baby pink, I got my bedding and curtains from Dunelm Mill and I loveeeee it! I made my room this way after I split with my ex, I wanted brighter colours that would make my room more of a happy place and also wanted to get rid of the memories of him so I moved all the furniture round and made it a little more colourful and girly:)

We've looked at moving quite a few times but we never have. I can't imagine us not living here, we are the only people to ever live in this house and it truly is our home, my safety bubble. I love it.

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: F

F

Hellloooo!!

The thing that makes me happy for the letter F is FAMILY :)

My Family literally means the world to me.

My Mum:
This woman has been through more in her lifetime than anyone should have to face. She was just a little bit older than I am now when she lost her husband and her mum, whilst also caring for her two little ones (my sisters). It was a hard time but she did it, she pulled through it, and eventually she met my dad and they had me. Mum always says I'm the good that came out of a lot of bad. Whenever I'm feeling weak, I think about everything that my mum went through and I just know that I have to stay strong for her. My mum is my bestfriend, my rock and one of the only people in this world that I can literally talk about ANYTHING with.

My Dad:
So, I'm a littttleee bit of a daddy's girl! We bond over different things to me and mum. I started playing computer games with my dad when I was about 8, and that started my gaming habits! We also have quite a similar taste in movies. Dad is the one man in my life that has never ever let me down, and stuck by me with every decision I've made, even if he disagreed and wanted to protect me, he still let me do the things I wanted because he knows that I have to learn. Whenever I've had my heart broken dad will go get me sweets and a movie and we will spend the night watching films together, one year my ex forgot me on valentines day, so my dad bought me flowers. No man will ever come close to my dad, but I hope one day I can have a relationship like him and my mum, they literally are made for eachother!

My Sisters
I have two sisters, well 3 kind of!!
One sister (that i mentioned in yesterdays blog) lives quite a few hours away with her partner (the 3rd sister). I'm very close with this sister now, we haven't always been but as I've got older we've grown closer and I often turn to her when I need some advice, a laugh or a get away! I can't thank them enough for always opening their door to me whenever I've needed an escape.
My other sister lives in Australia, we've not lived together since I was about 9 as there's quite a big age gap and thats when she went to uni, after uni she went travelling and met her now husband, she then moved out to Australia! We don't talk that often, especially as she's now travelling, but we both know that we love eachother and are there for eachother if necessary!

My Brother:
I have one brother, we aren't SUPER close, as much as I'd love to be, but we are both sort of quiet people so are sort of reserved I guess. But he does always look out for me like a big brother should. At the time I don't always appreciate it, but in the long run I know he's doing the best thing for me and just trying to protect me.

And now there's also my beautiful niece who I just cannot get enough of! But I wrote alll about her yesterday so I won't repeat myself:)

My brother, two sisters and me 2 years ago (the last time we were all together)

So yeh, that's my family. They are my world, what keeps me going and my purpose. I love them to the moon and back :)

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: E

E

Hellooo

So this one is a little difficult, my thing that makes me happy beginning with E is my niece! However, she is adopted and at the moment I can't post much information about her (including her name as its quite unique) as we need to ensure that she is safe and protected.

So for this blog post she is just going to be called E!

My sister is gay, and she has been with her partner for probably 7 years now! They're engaged and decided that they wanted to have a family. Obviously, they couldn't exactly go about starting the family a normal way, so they thought why bring in new life when there's already children out there that deserve to have the best chance at life, so they decided to adopt!

There process was actually very quick compared to most cases! but a few months ago they finally got their little girl! She has completely been welcomed into our family and we are all so in love with her. I spoil her at every chance I get! This included bringing her back an ibiza rocks baby grow as she LOVES music.

E is a very lucky little lady as due to the fact of going into fostercare very young, she hasn't got a gap like most adoptive children do because her foster family documented every little thing they did and what she achieved.

Since being with my sisters she's now started walking un-aided, she has some physical weaknesses which have made it more difficult for her to walk than other children. But she is doing SOO well!

Everytime I get low I just have to watch a video of her giggling away, she has the most infectious laugh in the world I swear!! The only down side is that they live 5 hours away from us :( whenever I have time off work I try to visit, and they do the same! But I would do anything for us to be closer together.

What 'E' makes you happy? :)

Much Love

LJ xo

Introduce yourself....again

Hellloooo!! Long time no speak

So, I'm trying to get back into blogging, mainly as a bit of motivation for myself.

My emotions are kind of a rollercoaster to be honest! sometimes I have down days when in reality there's nothing specifically wrong with my life, in fact I am very lucky but that doesn't stop negativity! Where as others I'll be full of laughs and everything will seem ok.

So basically, I want this to be my happy place, somewhere I can put all of my positives for me to look at when I need some inspiration and motivation.

Hopefully in time this blog will be filled with family, friends, happy memories, laughs, photographs, makeup, hair, cooking.... everything that puts a smile on my face!

With any luck, eventually I will help other people to!

Anyway, that's enough for now! Hopefully I stick to it this time!

Much love...

LJ xo

Long Distance / Military Relationships

Hello!

So it has definitely been a while. This year has been a complete rollercoaster for me and if I'm honest there have been some very very dark points, but right now I am feeling pretty positive and wanted to give this another shot.

So... as its remembrance day, and as an army girlfriend, I thought I'd bring up military relationships.

The question I get asked most: How do you do it?!

Simple.. I would rather have one phonecall a week, seeing my other half for one week every 3 months, have letters and emails sent to me... than not being with him. That's how I do it. Because either you do it, or you do not have the person that you love in your life ever.  

I admit there have been times when I have struggled with it, but this is not my first relationship like this. I have been in several long distance relationships before so I am fairly used to it. Infact my boyfriend actually lives in my home town which is rare! however he isn't here very often due to training and other things. 

At the moment my boyfriend Josh is in Bosnia on tour. He left on 1st July and he comes back on 2nd December hopefully, 1 day after our 2 year anniversary. When he gets back he will have had another birthday not at home, it's my birthday in 2 weeks and this will be the 3rd birthday of mine that he has missed due to work. 

On the plus side, we have so many exciting things when he gets home! We have his first mess do where we get to dress up all fancy and it'll be the first time I see him in his posh uniform, then we are going to a hotel in York for our 2 year anniversary (two weeks late but hey ho ;) ) then we are going to London for Winter Wonderland, which I am SUPER excited about!

So there's another tip, when they are away make lots of exciting plans for when they get home! It keeps you busy and makes happy talking about it with them rather than feeling sad and continuously saying how much you miss eachother, which obviously we do say to eachother but it's best not to dwell on the fact its been 17 weeks since you've seen eachother, think about the good times for when they're home! :)

Anyway I think I have rambled enough.

Today think of all of the men and women that have fought for our countries and our freedom.. and think of the friends, families, wives, husbands, children that sit behind waiting for them and giving them a reason to fight.

Love to you all 

xoxo

Holiday Photos :)

Hey Hey! Ok so I know i've been REALLY slack! :( I'm sorry - I had 2 job interviews last week then on friday we found out that on sunday/monday my boyfriend was being flown to Canada for 2 months! So we were very shocked and gutted about that :( So I spent my weekend glued to his side! and so today he flew off and I started my first day at my new job too! Bit of an emotional rollercoaster tbh!

anyways a couple of people were interested in seeing more holiday pics so I thought I'd upload some for you all :) xx

What would you like to read on my next blog post? Beauty? Love? Life? Advice? let me know!

Toodles ♥

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Barry M Nail Varnish (Mini Haul)

Hey Hey

So as you've probably seen in a previous post of mine, I am slightly obsessed with nail varnish, especially BarryM. I feel that it lasts reasonably well, has good coverage and the colours are amazing! As a treat and there is a 3 for 2 offer in superdrug at the moment on their nail varnish, I bought 3 new ones. But I thought i'd show you my whole collection aswell as just the new ones :) ♥

First off my new 'summer colours'

 (Left to Right -  Dragon, Neon Pink, Greenberry)

Limited Edition Neon Pink
I saw this and just had to get it!!! The colour is gorgeous and bright I love it. The only negative thing I found with this nail varnish is I did need 3 coats of it and it still isn't as opaque as the majority of Barry M varnish

Greenberry (Gelly) 324
I have posted before about the Barry M mint, and although I love it I do feel it is a bit wishy washy (not a very technical term but hey ho:P ), so when I saw this it really stood out to me! I don't have a picture but I tried it on one nail and it was very bright and came out very well, would only need 2 coats at a maximum, you could possibly get away with just one if you needed to leave the house quickly.

Dragon 324 (Gelly)
A gorgeous bright baby pink colour, again like the greenberry one it would only need 2 coats and is also a very summery girly colour!! EDIT: I have just tried this out on one of my nails and it has also got a very slight shimmery/sparkle in it! :)




And the rest of my collection.....

If you want to see images of their special effect nail varnishes (I have the crack one and magentic) then comment or tweet to me and I'll get that done and up on here ASAP!:) 

Toodles ♥

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30 day snap challenge day 11

Hey hey!
Today's snap is of a scrap book that I made for me and my boyfriend for valentines day :) i have it at the moment as I'm adding our new adventures to it!

Toodles <3