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

A-Z Guide to Happiness: D

D

Hellooo

Dancing!

I personally am pretty pants at dancing but I used to do it when I was little and I did love it and I now wish that I had never stopped.

But even though I now don't dance, I do think it is something that can make others very happy, and watching others dance does make me happy so it still counts :P

Dancing is a very good way of releasing emotions as there are so many different types of dance and also different genres of music you could be performing too. Something like street dance would let out a lot of frustration I think as its a lot of tensing and relaxing your muscles and often has sharp hard movements. Where as ballet is often very calming, especially to watch!

One of my favourite types of dance would be contemporary, I think this is because it often tells a story that you can get lost in and you feel the emotions through their dance.

After having a look around online, I really liked this video (once the dancing starts! - about one minute in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx3NdoMpYDw

What would your word be??

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: C

C

Hellloooo

Today's letter is C, and for this I choose COOKING!

I absolutely love cooking, albeit a little bit stressful at times, but hey... the end result is yummy food so it's worth it!!

I think my favourite meal I have made so far is home made lasagne and potato wedges, for this I use the 'nosh for students' recipe book, which I highly recommend as it's full of easy recipes for quick meals, homey meals, comfort meals, fake aways! I absolutely love it.

I also recently attempted the triple chocolate cookies from Love Tanya (Tanya Burr's book) and oh...my...god they are the best cookies I've ever tasted!! The girls from work said it was like a bite of heaven :P I often bake little goodies to take in as I do really enjoy doing it! My friend Hannah tells me I should open a bakery one day but I don't think I'm quite that good!

If you want to take a look at something I've cooked and reviewed from the Nosh for Students cook book then take a look at my blog post below. Should I bring back Tasty Tuesdays? 

http://ell-jaye.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/tasty-tuesdays-week-one.html

I've just asked my mum what her favourite thing that begins with C is, her answer was Cadburys! Typical woman, a proper chocaholic!!
What be your Happy C?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: B

B

Hellooo

So for today's letter I choose BUBBLE BATHS!!!!!!!!!

I've had a couple of rough days so I thought a bubble bath was just what I needed!

I set up my bathroom, lit some lovely smelling candles - There's a place called notcutts near me and last xmas they sold this amaaazzingg vanilla candle that smells like cupcake dolls (a toy from when I was little, they were basically like barbies and when you turned their dress inside out they went into like a cupcake, but they were scented.. sounds strange i know but delightful for your nose lol! -  So anywayyy.. I used that candle, and then a few others.

I got a couple of pieces of Zoella's fizz bar and used that, I love the smell of it and watching it fizz, the only thing is I quite like having bubbles in my baths and fizzers don't have that effect, so I have to use a bubble bath too :P

I stuck my new Toshiba Chromebook (highly recommended) on the side and set up a playlist of Gabrielle Aplin on youtube for whilst I was relaxing in the bath. Gabrielle Aplin is my go-to music at the moment when I'm feeling stressed or on edge, I'm not sure why, something about her music and voice is incredibly soothing.

What would be your happy thing for the letter B?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: A

A

Hellloooo!

So, today's letter is A, for this I am going to choose the word Animals!

I have a westhighland terrier called Poppy, she's getting a little old now bless her! When we first got her she was smaller than a football and sooo cute! She still is cute now, just not as diddy! :)

I also have a pet Degu, very adorable animal and funny to watch, although I'm still a little scared incase she bites me, she never has but the man at the pet store decided to tell me scary bite stories! Not what you should do when trying to sell an animal!

Anyyywaayyy, part of the reason why I have chosen Animals as my letter is because it is scientifically proven that the company of a dog for example, assists in improving depression and anxiety! 

Some of the reasons that they help improve depression and anxiety are the following:

- Dogs can sense when you are feeling low and upset, and they will respond to these emotions to try make you feel better.

- Dogs also are less likely to respond if you are giving commands in a stressful or frustrated manor, meaning that you must learn to control your emotions in order to speak to your dog calmly and assertively.

- If you have a dog, it will need walking - which means 1) you get out of the house instead of staying shut away all day and 2) You're exercising, which releases endorphins (the happy chemical that your brain makes) so it's a win win situation!

- Often if a dog is lying with their head in your lap, you will want to stroke them, they are calming animals and by doing this it is a soothing motion which can help when you are feeling anxious.

- If you have a little puppy bouncing around being a bit nutty and trying to play... are you going to say no to that? Are you going to be able to resist having a little giggle?? I highly doubt it!!! 

- It's a conversation starter if you aren't used to talking to people! You could bump into someone when walking your dog and you have something that you can actually talk about without having to rack your brain!

- Companionship, you're not going to feel alone when you have a pup by your side! They say a dog is a man's best friend.

- Having a pet gives you responsibility, I see it as almost like a purpose! This animal needs you, it needs you to get out of bed in the morning to feed it, walk it, give it water! It needs to be played with and loved! 

Although I have got a dog, she's not technically mine! I would absolutely love to have my very own puppy that I raise myself and build a bond with from day one! If I could get one I would like a King Charles Spaniel as these are very fun, gentle and loving dogs that are highly recommended for people that suffer from depression.

If you want to read a bit more about this, here are a couple of links!:

http://pets.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-pets-improve-your-health

http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/pets-depression

http://dogsfordepression.org.uk/how-dogs-help-us.html

Do you have pet that helps you? Tell me about them and how they help!!

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness

Helloooo!!

So for the month of August I am going to be making an A-Z Guide to Happiness!

Each day in August (minus a few as there's not enough letters in the alphabet!) I'm going to make a post about something that makes me happy using that day's letter!

The aim of this is to create a list of things to refer to if I'm ever struggling to find something that will make me smile.

Feel free to make your own list! I'd absolutely love to see what other people come up with too, so if you fancy it give it a go and write it in the comments below or tweet me at @ell_jaye :)

Much love...

LJ xo