Avocado and Cinnamon Pudding

In recent weeks I've been trying out a new breakfast recipe that's both light and filling, perfect for an early start as it quick and easy to make. The recipe is originally by Kourtney Kardashian, however I changed it slightly. 

Ingredients

• 1 avocado. 
• 1 cup of milk.
  This can be any milk to your personal preference. 
• 1 tablespoon of honey. 
• 2 tea spoons of cinnamon. 

Instructions

• Slice your avocado in half and twist to have two halves. Carefully remove the stone and scoop out all of the avocado from its coating.
• Measure out a cup full of milk and along with the avocado and both the honey and cinnamon, put all of the ingredients into a blender and proceed to blend until smooth. 
• Finally, pour the contents into a cup. I personally like to eat this with a spoon as though it were a yoghurt. 

Finished Product! - picture taken from my Instagram. P.s. You can see me in the spoon...

The original recipe includes organic products and does not include cinnamon, you can add more or different flavours to your own taste and use any organic products. I occasionally eat a piece of fruit along with this, usually a banana, just to make the morning meal that little bit extra filling. Avocado is great for the skin too! Enjoy...

Positivity

If you've read my previous blog posts, you might have noticed that I didn't seem in the most 'relaxed' way in previous months. I was suffering from anxiety terribly and it stopped me from doing things and seeing people I love. Luckily, I managed to pull myself together at the end of my first university year and came out with a grade I am very proud of as I could have done much much worse.

I'm currently into the first term of my second year at university and not to 'jinx' everything, but I'm loving it so far. I've built up such a positive attitude within myself that I've come to a point where I thought 'Why should I feel like rubbish every day, its not worth it', saying that to myself everyday for a few months generally did help my overall wellbeing and has gave me a better outlook on everyday life.

A couple of months ago doing simple tasks such as going out to town and spending some time with friends made me feel sick to my stomach with stress and anxiety that I would just cancel. I was scared to go out for a few drinks or to even walk to my local shop. However, my anxiety made me feel so secluded and left out by those that I cared about that I was beginning to make myself feel worse because I felt bad in general, does that make sense?

It's easier said than done to tell others, who may suffer with similar problems of anxiety, to 'adopt a new attitude' and 'just tell yourself no', because it is hard to do. But, by including small steps of telling yourself it will be okay to walk to the shop on your own or people aren't judging you behind your back, the more you tell yourself the truth the more you will believe yourself. I could sit and type all day about what others have said makes them feel better and I could google self help guidance and send it to people/look at it myself. The only person that your mind will believe the most is you, you have to believe that you will be okay and that it is okay to feel crappy at times, everyone does and it's natural.

I've had such an amazing month catching up with friends and learning new topics and strategies at university that in a good way I haven't thought or felt anxious. I'll admit, I have forced myself to wake up everyday in summer to push myself to do something to get myself in a routine and I'm glad I did. I now wake up on a morning with plans with my friends because I want to do it for me and me only and thats something I'm not afraid to say I'm proud of.

...

Cocktails with friends at The Botanist - Manchester

The Perfect Pamper

Today, I officially start my second year at university. Half of me is excited to get back into the swing of student life, the other half of me wants to crawl into bed and not think about the endless assignments and projects that await me. Last night, to take my mind of all things university, I decided to have a little pamper evening for myself.

The first thing I did was have a relaxing bath. I used The Comforter bubble bar from Lush and crushed this in my hand under the running tap to create some amazing and beautifully smelling bubbles. Just like it's name, the bubbles and the smell it produces is so comforting. Along with the bubble bar I also used a bath bomb, again from Lush, this being Twilight. The scent of this bath bomb made me feel both settled and tired, definitely a good choice before bed as it has a hint of lavender. To make my bath that little bit more relaxing I also lit a few candles, setting a peaceful mood whilst I read my book. I've just started to read Three Sisters, Three Queens by Phillippa Gregory, I'll let you know how I get on.

After my bath, I popped on my pyjamas and decided to paint my nails in the shade Fifth Avenue by Essie. Whilst waiting for those to dry it I read more of my book and scrolled online. Once my nails were dry I then applied my Simple Night Cream, blog post about this here and settled down for the night with a cup of tea ready to watch a film, I decided on Home Alone 2 and now I feel super christmassy...is that a word?

As daft as it may sound, having a bath in my flat is sometimes a lifesaver. Both my bathroom at my parents house and student halls last year only have showers. Having a bath this year feels like a dream come true as I can finally just sink and relax, even if I am scared to have one because of the water meter.

What do you do when you need to have a pamper? If pampering isn't your thing, how do you relax instead? Let me know!

A 'Simple' Skincare Routine

I've had the summer off due to the university break and finishing first year in May seems like years ago. I start my first 'actual' week of second year on Tuesday and getting back into a routine feels somewhat daunting. However, the one thing that always makes me feel like I've got my life together, even though at times I probably do not, is my skincare routine. I use four products from Simple and would like to share this routine with you and how I like the products.

Morning Routine

The first product I use in the morning is the Simple Kind to Skin Refreshing Facial Wash Gel. I apply this to a slightly damp face and gently rub this onto my skin making sure not to be too rough. The formula is smooth and leaves my skin feeling super soft and refreshed, the gel feels kinder to my skin unlike other facial scrubs. Once I've rubbed it all in, I then wipe away the gel with some warm water and a flannel.

Next, I use the Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Day Cream SPF15. I apply this onto my face once my face has fully dried from previously washing it. I 'blob' on some of the cream onto sections such as my cheeks, nose, chin and forehead, making sure I, again, rub it in gently. The moisturiser has a SPF of 15 which helps protect my skin from the slight bit of sun we may have.

Evening Routine

It is mostly in the evenings when I take the make-up off that I have been wearing all day. To sometimes save time and to be very lazy, I will use any baby wipe of make-up removing wipe I own to take most of the make-up off. I then, with a cotton pad, take a couple of drops of the Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner and apply all over my face to remove any left over make-up.

Finally, once the Toner has dried into my skin, like the Vitamin Day Cream, I apply the Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream to my face and rub it in gently. It leaves my skin feeling moisturised and refreshed and is not too thick, making it perfect to sleep in.

I enjoy all four of these products and without them would probably lack in any routine at all. It sets me up for the day ahead and leaves me feeling both refreshed and well...clean.

A Many Berry Smoothie

I am currently in Warwick looking after my two cousins for their parents as it's the last week of the summer holidays. To keep the three of us entertained I suggested to make a fruit smoothie, to which the kids came up with a smoothie of just berries, so that's what we did.

We chopped a load of strawberries and added those, raspberries, blueberries into a blender and added a cup of apple juice afterwards to make the contents smoother to drink. The girls LOVED it and it came out such a lovely colour too. We drank these along side some pancakes. Yum!

Liverpool Loving

My birthday feels like years ago and it was only at the beginning of the month. To celebrate me turning 19, me and a few family members took a little trip to Liverpool and lets just say I didn't want to go home. We stayed for two nights in a penthouse apartment on the Quay Side/Dock which was such a lovely treat from my family. It rained for the three days we were there and the breeze from the sea was so cold that it felt like November, not August. But, we didn't let the weather ruin our exploring of the beautiful city. We hid out of the rain for a couple of hours by having a few drinks in The Cavern, this being somewhere that me and my grandad have always wanted to go, the atmosphere was so warm and welcoming and everyone sang along to every Beatle song you could think of. 

If you do visit Liverpool I would recommend having a meal at Gusto which is on the dock. The meals could be classed as pricey but the food was out of this world and it was a lovely way to end birthday celebrations. 

Gusto

I would definitely visit Liverpool again as I fell in love with what the city had to offer and it's only just a quick train journey from Manchester. 

Update: Everything

Lets just say I haven't been the worlds best blogger, woops. I finished my exams and went headed straight for the airport to go on holiday, I had such a lovely week away that blogging slipped my mind and it got to that point when I didn't exactly know what I wanted to blog about. So here I am, with a life update.

Holiday
I had a week away with my family at the Spanish town, Salou/Portaventura. It existed of large amounts of lager, water slides and rollercoasters...need I say more? The hotel was fully inclusive and was so so lovely, as were the staff that worked there. My two younger cousins came so the holiday was more about finding entertaining activities to do, hence the waterslides and rollercoasters (even though I'm not the biggest fan). The weather was glorious and I'm now sat typing this post with typical English grey clouds, why was my holiday six weeks ago? Please can I go back?

Myself
Since coming home I've felt somewhat better. My anxiety is not as bad and I'm pushing myself to do and try new things. I have only recently got put on the insurance of a family members car, meaning it's the first time I've drove since passing my driving test a year ago, scary. It's the only time being home that I felt anxious as driving isn't my most favourite thing, but however I do feel a lot more confident, even if I only drive to the corner shop, its still something.

Future Plans
In just over a month I move back to Manchester to start my second year of university and surprisingly I feel ready and excited to go. I'm familiar with the surroundings and what does and does not make me feel comfortable. To anyone that is moving to a bigger city, don't be put off straight away and don't bite the bullet and give up. Get to know where you are and where everything is and do it slowly.
I have posts planned, but not yet written and I'm excited to get into the flow of everything again. Hang on, I am still here - lol.

This may be a boring little post but I've re-wrote this about 5 times now and everything is not making sense and words all look the same. I'll be back soon...

Where Have I Been?

I've been away from blogging for quite a while now...following my last post about anxiety, it stems from that to why I haven't really posted. I had felt deflated for a couple of weeks and blogging wasn't the priority in my mind at the time. Long story short, I am feeling ever so positive now, but still have not wrote due to exam season looming. My exam is two days away and I don't know how to feel about that, yet I'm writing a blog post, I always pick the wrong time.

This is only a short/little post but it's a post saying that I'm back and once my exam is over there'll be a more frequent schedule - so look out for that!!

Bye for now...

Beautiful photo I took of the sunset whilst traveling home.

Living With Anxiety

It's hard to write a blog post on a subject that I can't exactly describe to myself. For around 4 to 5 years I have dealt with, and still dealing with, anxiety. In my opinion, the root of my anxiety developed from many different occasions and experiences, mostly happening after the age of 13.

My anxiety at the moment is effecting many parts of my life, these being; 

University and my assignments.

Hobbies and blogging.

Relationships with those around me.

The way that I view myself. 

I am not one to share my deep down personal life on the internet, maybe in time I will, but right now it's not something I plan to do. I want to share with people that may suffer with anxiety or even those who do not themselves that it's okay to feel anxious. I find I put a lot of pressure on myself to not feel anxious, the more pressure I put on myself to seem 'happier' the more I begin to feel deflated, it is hard work. There are people I know personally that have overcome the mental illness, anxiety will always lurk around you but it can be controlled, which those around me are helping me to grasp the technique of. 

There will come a time when someone may tell you to "Put a smile on your face" or "There are people worse off than you". It may feel patronising and it may feel like a personal hit to your self esteem, but talking about how you feel and how your anxiety makes you feel will not only help those who do not fully understand the subject, but it helps you get that elephant feeling of your chest and the butterflies flee from your stomach, even if its only for a couple of hours, its still a big help. 

I could pull up a google definition of what anxiety is, but everyone deals with it and feels it in many different ways. Some may have to talk themselves out of the struggle to go outside and others may experience anxiety with the thought of a job interview. We all experience this sense of worry and nervousness and its okay. Talk to people, whether its a friend, family member, teacher or someone that specialises in the area, its normal to talk and ask for help, its human nature. 

Most of the time I experience the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, the feeling of butterflies that I mentioned earlier. This is what I have most days, I could be sat having coffee or lunch with my closest friends and feel this way or sometimes I could be sat in a university lecture and the stress of my assignments builds it up. Other times I have what is known as palpitations, the only way that I could describe this is that your heart feels like its racing at 1000mph and that it'll explode any second, or sometimes feels as though someone has hold of it and it squeezing every last beat it has. It an awful feeling because the more you panic the more adrenalin your body pumps and makes it beat even faster, your body goes into 'panic mode', which can then follow from a horrid panic attack. Not nice.

When I feel like this there are a few ways I try to take my mind of things, one being finding a way to relax, I've previously wrote a blog post on 5 ways to relax when feeling anxious, read that here.
Other ways I like to take my mind of feeling 'under the weather' are long walks. I like to take myself away from the place or situation, whether I'm taking the dog for a walk or even just a 5 minute walk to the corner shop, whatever it is its a few minutes or hour away from an environment that made me feel trapped and secluded, its one more step forward to overcoming that feeling.

Today I felt anxious, I talked about it over a blogpost and it helped. The weather is rubbish so a dog walk is not on the cards, instead I'm watching a disney film and giving the dog lots of cuddles. 

Rufus

Relaxing environments, for me, are always by the sea

Don't hold back, comment if you've ever felt this way or still do. I'd love to know your opinions and how you may experience it differently. Would you like a bigger post about anxiety and what types there is? Let me know. 

Mini Haul | Pull&Bear

I recently made a few small purchases on Pull&Bear and I absolutely love them! When I say 'mini haul', I do actually mean mini as I only bought 3 items, nether the less they are worthy for a blog post. 

The first item is a red and navy striped jumper which cost £15.99. I chose this as I thought it would be perfect for the transition from winter to spring as its a thinner material, meaning it's light and not as bulky. I ordered a bigger size so it was a little bit baggier, I love wearing big comfy jumpers over jeans or a leather skirt with some black ankle boots. 

The second item is a striped, can you spot a theme here, black and white t-shirt which cost £5.99. I am a little bit obsessed with stripes, I find that its something that suits me and because of this I know it's something I can quickly put into a shopping basket or throw on if I'm rushing to get dressed. Again, like the jumper, I would wear this paired with either a skirt or some black skinny jeans or maybe some blue mom jeans and my adidas trainers to keep it casual. 

The last item is a white sleeveless cotton shirt with a polka dot pattern printed all over it, this cost £9.99. I ordered this for the basis of wearing it under jumpers or dresses to add that last little detail to the outfit, because of the pattern its different to my other plain shirts. This could also be worn in the summer months over a bikini and a pair of shorts too. 

I love Pull&Bear as the website has a little bit of everything you need, if I had a lot more money than I do I'd have most definitely bought the whole content of the website by now. The prices are affordable and of good quality which is something than I look for when buying clothes, I most certainly recommend. 

Street Style | Tyra Welch

One of the things I love the most about living in Manchester is the variety of locations that are available to do photoshoots, one of these being Castlefield. Second term has brought me and three of my lovely friends a group assignment of producing a fashion magazine. As a group we have to come up with an overall theme, write each and every article, plan everything from start to finish and of course shoot the photo's ourselves - today I was the photographer.

Tyra, a friend and member of the group, stepped up and offered to be the model for today's shoot and did such an amazing job (well done Ty if your reading). Out of luck we found a beautiful spot in Castlefield down by the riverside, the weather was on our side for once making the overall mood happy and calm...and a lot warmer. We decided to name our theme 'Urban Prints', which meant all three of us girls searched our wardrobe for outfits that would fit into our overall look. These photos will now be a feature spread in our magazine. 

Here are some of the photo's I took of Tyra, I thought I'd share them with you all. 

All images took on a Canon 700D. 

I'd love to know what you think.