What I Got For My Birthday | 2016

So a few weeks ago, I celebrated my 23rd birthday. As I've got older, I've become much more relaxed with celebrating and with what gifts to ask my family for. When I was a teenager, I used to write a rather lengthy and comprehensive list of gifts and then I'd delegate them to different family members. It was my sure-fire way of getting everything I wanted. As I typed that last sentence, I realised how much of a brat that made me sound. I'm not, I promise! Now that I'm in my twenties, I get very lazy about my birthday and this year was no different. I had no list and no ideas about what I wanted. All I really wanted was to spend time with my family and boyfriend and go out for nice meals.

However, my chilled out vibes were not appreciated by my family and boyfriend. As I didn't have a list or express any desire for anything for my birthday, they had no idea what to get me. Nevertheless, they didn't disappoint; I was still extremely spoilt by them and I'm very grateful for everything they got me. 

A few days before my birthday I was talking to my brother on Whatsapp and he asked me if I had any ideas. I was also scrolling through some of the blogs that I read and it sparked an idea of some books that I wanted to read. I reeled off a few of the titles in a message to him and he replied saying he had placed an order on Amazon. These were Tyler Oakleys book 'Binge', Amy Poehler's book 'Yes Please' and Sophia Amoruso's '#Girlboss'. I didn't think anything more of it until the Amazon parcel came to my house and it was extremely heavy! When I came to open it, he had ordered all of the books I had suggested! I was gobsmacked. I was only expecting to receive one or two of them at most! So needless to say, my reading list is looking rather well stocked for quite a while! 

Most of my family and friends know that I am a make-up obsessive so I usually get something beauty-related for my birthday (and Christmas, too!) which is never a bad thing in my books. I actually got quite a variety of beauty goodies for my birthday this year. In addition to the books, my brother also got me the Sleek Solstice Highlighter Palette. This absolutely gorgeous highlighter quad has been doing the rounds of both beauty blogs and beauty YT channels. I'm obsessed with highlighting my skin at the moment so when I saw this amongst my books, I was extremely excited and used it straight away. Spoiler alert: this highlighter is so bright, I'm sure Tim Peake can see it all the way from the International Space Station. 

I am also waiting for another gift to arrive from my Mum. She usually always knows what to get me for my birthday but this year she was really stuck. However this was only until we were watching QVC beauty (which we do quite regularly) and the presenters were talking about some Tarte products. I piped up and said I really liked the look of the new Tartelette in Bloom 2 eyeshadow palette that I've seen a few of my favourite YouTubers rave about. There and then she ordered it from the QVC website but it is currently on a wait list so it could be anything up to 3 months until this beauty arrives on my doorstep. My Dad gifted me a MAC gift card because I've been banging on for months about how I want to buy myself some MAC make-up. It seems whenever I go into a MAC store, I have every intention to buy something but I get so intimated by the selection of products and the staff never really seem too willing to help at all. Does anyone else feel like that? I'm going to do the smart thing and save my gift card for when I have a good list of products that I've researched and feel confident in going in and buying in one fair swoop. If you are well-versed in MAC, what are your favourite products? Let me know!

Whilst I was in London celebrating my actual birthday with my boyfriend, I did also treat myself to some Soap & Glory goodies. I picked up the Thick & Fast Flash Extensions Effect Mascara, Kick Ass Concealer Crayon and the Sexy Mother Pucker Extreme Lip Plumper. I am still giving them a good road test but they will definitely feature on my blog soon. 

Now I'm not going to be talking about every single gift I was given because this post would be very long and potentially very boring for some of you. So I will finish off this post with some of the gifts that my boyfriend got me. He said that he really struggled with what to get me but I think he did a great job and I loved every single one. I'm a big Kardashian/Jenner fan and I had often mentioned that I wanted a Lumee phone case that they all have. However, I didn't think I'd mentioned it enough that he thought to get it for me and when I unwrapped it, I screamed and instantly sent a picture of it to my friend Emily. She's also a Kardashian fan. I'm so happy with it and I love being able to take good selfies when its dark. He also got me Cards Against Humanity which is a seriously offensive but hilarious game that I have been desperate to get my hands on and play for MONTHS. I've even watched game plays of it on YouTube just to feel part of a game! I'm so excited to play this with my friends because we all have a similar dark sense of humour. However, I don't think this will be making an appearance at Christmas as I don't think my Nan & Grandad would approve. 

I hope you have enjoyed this post and seeing some of the things I got for my birthday. I'm so grateful to my family and boyfriend for all of my lovely gifts- I'm a very lucky girl. If it was your birthday recently, leave a comment and let me know what you were gifted!

P x 

Fitness Friday #1: Long Walks & Apps!

Hello there and welcome to my first Fitness Friday blog post!

This is a new series born out of my desire and goal to become fitter, healthier, stronger and slimmer! Every Friday I will sharing with you my tips and tricks that I've picked up to really boost the benefits from a healthy lifestyle.

Kick starting this series is a post all about how you can visually see how a long walk can help you burn those calories!

Living in London it can be difficult to find 'peace and quiet'. I hear ambulance sirens and people shouting all hours of the day. With all that rustling and bustling, complete relaxation is a near off impossibility, making me a recluse with my laptop permanently attached to me. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that this is not healthy nor am I losing weight.

I did some browsing on Google Maps (as you do) and found there was a huge park about 10 minutes from me so I decided to devise a 2 mile walk that I could track on my phone and keep track of calories lost.

I downloaded this rather nifty little app from the App Store called 'MapMyWalk' and the first thing I noticed about it is that the interface is very similar to Facebook. Therefore it is really easy to get used to as you can like and comment your friends progress. 

Image from Google Images

To start, you simply click 'Record my workout' then 'Start Workout' and a map of your location will be shown. As you walk, the app will create route line calculating your distance, pace and calories burned. 

On my first walk, I clocked a distance of 3.32km in just under 40 mins burning 134 calories. It was also quite humid that day with very little of a breeze so I sweated quite a bit (sexy, I know). I felt awesome afterwards because it was a relaxed type of exercise where I wasn't staring at the timer on a treadmill, but the nature around me. 

Here are a few snaps I took whilst on my walk. I just fell back in love with the colour green!

Another feature I really like on this app is that you can pause and resume your workout if you stop to have a sit down in the sun or chat to someone. 

I'd highly recommend this app if you are looking for a great exercise if you are away from your gym or in the countryside but don't want to get lost! It's also great if you are not into very rigorous exercise but still want to keep fit and get your blood pumping. 

Do you use any other apps to record your fitness or eating? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading and check back next Friday for another Fitness Friday post!

Dehydration And Headaches

DISCLAIMER: This is a health blog post borderline medical. I am not a medical professional so if you are experiencing anything of what I am going to mention in this blog post then please go and see your GP or health professional. Also, refrain from doing online self-diagnosis', this is very dangerous and could cause you a lot of worry over something very minor. I am aware that this post contains sources from the internet but I have visited my GP and will continue to do so if the symptoms persist. This blog post is firstly; a way of me recording how I feel and what I've done to try and remedy the pain and secondly; offer advice to anyone who may be experiencing the same pain and has the same habits as I. With that being said, I hope you find this blog post interesting and helpful. 

As I am writing this, I have a pain in the back and front of my head. 

Recently, I have been experiencing this pain every day. I did wonder if this could be due to my contraceptive pill as this is a common side effect (said pill should cease to be taken if this occurs). However, I am on my pill-free week and I am still experiencing this pain. I also thought it could be down to me not wearing my glasses enough. Again however, I have been wearing them every time I use my laptop and the pain is still there. 

I was told 2 weeks ago by the nurse at my doctors surgery that I was dehydrated. This wasn't a great surprise to me. 

For as long as I can remember, I have been awful with drinking water regularly and I got into a habit of going a whole day without drinking a thing. I do not advise this type of behaviour, it's very dangerous. I do not have this habit anymore but I am still not drinking as much as I should be. 

Anyway, back to the headaches. I was researching the causes of headaches and couldn't really decipher what was going on until I typed in 'Dehydration and headaches' into Google. I found this article here and quite a lot of it made sense to me. I feel pain in my head when I bend over to pick up something (almost like I am going to fall over) I also felt pain in my head when I was at the gym a week ago and I had to stop my exercise. This could be down to what the article mentions as lost electrolytes that haven't been replenished after heavy sweat loss. I went to the gym last night and felt fine afterwards despite sweating a lot and drinking about a pint and a half of water during and after my workout. This may not be enough and I need to up my fluid intake. Another tip the article gives you is to take electrolytes in your water after every workout. These are small dissolvable tablets that you pop into your water and they are packed with sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium. All of the ium's. 

Here is a link to where you can buy these tablets from Holland & Barrett (they come in all different flavours) :http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/high5-zero-citrus-60098125

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-5-High5-Zero-Citrus/dp/B003AIMQ38/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403698347&sr=8-2&keywords=high5+zero+electrolyte+tablets

Also, this morning I slept in and I read elsewhere that oversleeping has the potential to cause headaches. Your body functions just as it should on 8 hours of sleep so I need to get into the habit of going to bed and waking up at a sensible time with 8 hours in the bank. This also means that you have more time and can be more productive. 

It has also been very hot where I live right now which does contribute to headaches, whether dehydration caused or otherwise. Maybe I should buy a hat.

As I have mentioned, I am awful at remembering when to drink water. In the digital age, technology has been created to help curb this habit. I have found a useful app on the App Store (I am unsure if it is available on other platforms- have a look!) called 'Waterlogged'. This app gives you the ability to record a measurement of fluid intake be it 500ml, 1 litre or more. You can also set reminders to ensure you are drinking regularly as drinking large volumes of water in one go is actually not very hydrating at all. Every time you log water intake, the bottle (or snowflake in my case!) will fill up. I really like this feature as I can visually see what I've achieved and what I have left to achieve in my day. 

Here is a link to the iTunes Store website where you can read up about this App and pictures of what it looks like: 

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/waterlogged-drink-more-water/id352199775?mt=8

Now I have come to the end of writing this blog post, my headache has subsided after drinking about 750ml of water. I am going to walk down to Holland & Barrett now to pick up some electrolyte tablets and have a chat with the staff about other things I can do to help. I will check back with an update in about 2 weeks or so. 

UPDATE: I am drinking my water now with one of the electrolyte tablets I just picked up from H&B. They didn't have any of the ones I featured in this post in stock so I went for the EXTREME ones. Added to 500ml of water, it tastes like watery palmer violets sweets.

I know this hasn't been my typical blog post but if you have found it interesting or you have any tips for me, please comment below :)

Thank you for reading!

Sunday Walk in the Country

Happy Monday everyone! 

I hope you all had a lovely and relaxing weekend. I travelled back to my hometown as I've now finished university for the year and have not been home since January. Plus I'm turning 21 in a few weeks and will be having parties (yes, more than one) to celebrate!

As some of you may know, I've been doing quite a bit of exercise of late. I've signed up to a gym and also do a class on top of my own weekly workouts. I didn't want to become lazy whilst at home so I made good use of the mahoosive country park literally opposite my house and had a good ol' 40 minute walk with the dog. 

   

I hadn't realised how much I missed living out in the country, full of fresh air and lush green trees until I started snapping away with my camera. I had a truly fabulous time. 

Do you enjoy long country walks like I do? Or am I just a bit weird? I don't mind either way, it's the simple things in life that make me the happiest :)

Let me know what simple things you do that make you ever so gleeful and jolly!

Thank you for reading,

London Town

A couple of weeks ago, I took a train up to Central London and had a lovely day exploring. I don't go into Central very often but I live about 35 mins away so should probably make a conscious effort to! Anyway, whilst there, I walked along the South Bank, passed the Savoy hotel (and marvelled at how great it would be to live there), walked through St. James Park, said 'hello' to your Majesty at Buckingham Palace, strolled around a cute little market in Picadilly and then went to 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' museum- which I might add, is incredible! I finished off my evening with dinner at Chiquitos and Leicester square and a leisurely stroll back to Waterloo to catch a train home. Phew- long day! However, I did vlog it all and take a few pictures.

My personal favourite photo from the whole day!

Here is the YouTube video that I put together of the day:

Have you been to Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum? What did you think of it?

Thank you for reading!

Paris x