Little Things You May Not Know About Me

Hello, hello! Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend and if we're lucky, it will be a sunny one. Another personal post from me today. One of my favourite things about discovering a new blog is finding out all about the blogger. Feeling like you know the person behind the screen makes reading so much more personal, so here are a handful of little things about me that you may or may not know. Enjoy...!

1. I am absolutely, completely, totally obsessed with The Walking Dead. Self-confessed walker-stalker.
2. I own more gym leggings than any other item of clothing. 
3. I can't stand regular tea. Herbal tea, at a push, is acceptable. 
4. Going for dinner and to the cinema to see a new film is my idea of a great Friday date night. 
5. I live in skinny jeans and oversized jumpers/t-shirts.
6. Christmas Day is my favourite day of the whole year, and I always wake up super early like, well, like a kid at Christmas. 
7. Gin and tonic with elderflower is my current drink of choice. 
8. I quote Friends characters on a daily basis, and I've watched every episode more than 10 times.
9. My hair is naturally mousey blonde, but I've dyed it every colour under the sun.
10. I'm not a very good passenger. If we're have to drive somewhere, I will always be the driver. 
11. I spend a lot of time at work missing my cocker spaniel, Logan.
12. I'm not blessed in the chest department; shopping for bras is my personal hell. 
13. I'm a very passionate feminist, and will talk to you about it until the cows come home if you let me. 
14. I type fast. Like, really freakishly fast.  
15. I love cooking and meal planning. Cooking dinner is my favourite part of any average day. 
16. I get really, really stressy when plans change. My brain just cannot compute.  
17. I'm a total geek for anything Star Trek related, always have been. 
18. However, I have never seen Star Wars. 
19. I love gardening and planting flowers, although I seem to have a knack for killing them. 
20. I prefer being barefoot or wearing sandals/flip flops over everything else.
21. My music taste hasn't quite advanced past 2009. I'm currently listening to the new Panic! album on repeat. 
22. I really dislike most cooked fruit and desserts with alcohol in them - particularly trifle! 
23. I have a lot of love for stationary, and am always buying new notebooks and pretty highlighters.
24. I spend most of my evenings daydreaming about the next holiday I'm going to plan.
25. I love supermarkets. I'm the weirdo who enjoys doing the weekly shop.
26. I'm the friend who sends you five emojis with most messages. Sorry not sorry :)

Let's Get Personal: Bad Days

Hello, hello. Time to talk about something that plagues us all, but we don't often discuss it: bad days. We've all had them - days that start out badly, and just continue on from there. Sometimes they can be a hangover from the day before, if worry or anxiety or PMS or anything is playing on your mind. For me, 99% of the time a bad day is caused by anxiety, and that in itself is something I tend to keep on the QT...but that's a post for another day.

I thought I'd write out a wee list of things that have proven really helpful for me in the past, when I'm dealing with a really foul mood, a bout of anxiety, or just a general 'WTF is today' mood. This list won't help everyone, since we all deal with things in our own particular ways, but this is what helps me if I'm feeling particularly low and need to be picked up.

1. Netflix and binge. I can't be the only one who reaches for Netflix every time they feel crappy? Right now I'm marathoning Orange Is The New Black and Grey's Anatomy (tissues, anyone?). Candles lit, curtains shut, chocolate bar in hand, the evening is set. The only word of advice I have is limit whatever you're watching to a certain timeframe or amount of episodes, or you're likely to waste the day completely or stay up hideously late and in return feel worse than you did before.  

2. Get up and get out. The polar opposite to disappearing into your sofa with a bowl or popcorn and the remote? Getting up and going outdoors. Having a dog is a great way to force you outside, as the damn things seem to need walking all the time (love you Loganface!), and having a companion is always preferable to walking solo. I love a good jog, or a hot and sweaty yoga session, both will never fail to clear my head.

3. Escapism. Reading is it for me, but some people prefer music, art or movies. Anything that takes your mind away from where you are, and transports you somewhere far away is incredibly therapeutic. I've always been an advocate for art classes for those with depression/mental health issues, as I've seen some people come away feeling relaxed and rebooted, so anything you can do in your own home/surroundings to achieve that is something to work on.

4. Reach out. You know how they say that talking helps? It's true. On many occasions, I've dug myself into a pit of depression over something, sometimes lasting days, and waited too long to talk to anyone about it. Whether your worries are based on legitimate concerns or not, talking to a friend can help alleviate the feeling that you're struggling on alone. Sometimes a ten-minute phone call does the trick, sometimes a trip to the shops, or an hour-long Facetime session. When your friends are scattered everywhere from down the road to the opposite side of the globe, it can be hard to coordinate schedules, but good friends are always there no matter what. 

5. Little things, big help. Shower, coffee, tidying the kitchen, playing with the cats - there will be unlimited things that you do daily which give you a small lift, so go do them. Even if you just had a cuppa ten minutes ago - have another. Have a bath with rose petals and a glass of wine. Snuggle with your pets under a blanket. Whatever works, no matter how small.

6. Set a goal, and make a start. A lot of the time, feelings of sadness and failure stem from not feeling adequate. I can tell you right now: those feelings are not real, and you are ALWAYS enough. But I know how easy it is to succumb to a negative mindset. So setting a goal and hitting it, however small, is a great way to boost your self-esteem. Anything from a trip to the shop, paying that bill you've been putting off, or hitting a PB, whatever works for you.

7. Plan a trip. With friends, family, or significant other; it doesn't matter. Get the diary open and a date pencilled in. Broke? Go to the park or a museum, anything free will do just fine, as long as you get to spend time with those closest to you.

Let me know what you do on a bad day, and if anything on my list helps you as well as it helps me!

PS: How cute is the sign in the photo? Taken at our stunning wedding venue - only a year and a bit to go!!

Instagram Round-Up

If you follow me on Instagram, this will be a dull post for you because you've already seen these photos. If not, here's what I've been up to this month!

Yoga progress! Nailing the headstand. I've been happy with my tripod headstand for a while now, but finally mastered the bound headstand, and forearm headstand, so I was pretty chuffed with myself, not going to lie. Also lifting a leg in wheel pose has been on my list for a while, and I finally felt grounded enough in the pose to give it a go - with success! I generally feel a lot stronger and in control of my body throughout the whole class or practice, and it's a wonderful feeling.

Who doesn't love a wedding? I've been lucky enough to go to two beautiful weddings in the last few weeks, and it was wonderful seeing my friends so happy.

Party and wedding planning! Wedding wise, the band and the registrar got booked in the last week, so it's all feeling SO real now. And a close friend and I booked a venue for our joint 30th birthday party. 30 already? Really?!

Food and friendship. Because who doesn't love toasted marshmallows and a good old catch-up?

5 Lovely Things

I know most people hate Mondays, but I have to say I really love them, and I love Monday evenings. Perfect for curling up with a cuppa, reflecting on the previous week and weekend activities, and planning for the next 7 days. My normal Monday night consists of a quick hot yoga or Crossfit session, then home to cook dinner and meal plan for the coming days. And of course, this evening is going to be twice as great because The Walking Dead starts again (Daryl Dixon, anyone?) and I've been waiting what feels like forever for it.

01. This weekend saw the first wedding fair of my life, at a hotel in Harrogate, prefaced by breakfast at Betty's Tea Rooms with my mum. Family time is really important to me, so it was lovely to spend the day together and look at all the pretty things to choose from. I'm now a little confused, a little overwhelmed, and a lot excited!