Motivational Monday #1

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
                                              - George Eliot

This quote reminds us that it is never to late to pursue our dreams. As long as you set your mind to it you can accomplish anything.

I've recently been thinking about how my life hasn't exactly gone the way I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for my life and everything in it, but we all wonder don't we? We all think of how things could have been and where we could have been if things had gone slightly different. For example, I'm not in the job I imagined I would have when I left school.

But why does that mean my dream job is lost to me? If I set my mind to it and take every opportunity that comes my way, I could quite easily get my dream job in time as well as anything else that I desire.

The message from this first Motivational Monday post is to never stop aiming/reaching for your dreams because YOU CAN make them become reality.

Fashion Fridays: Curvy Girl Style

So here's my first Outfit of the Day style post for you. I had my first day at the school today and the dress code is pretty much jeans and t-shirt but I like to show I make an effort so I went for a more smart/casual look.

Sorry for the poor quality photos (I took them on my I-pad) but I hope you like it. As you can see I'm not a fashionista and I don't wear uber funky clothes...it's just my style...

Top: Peacocks
Trousers: Primark Chinos
Shoes: Brantanos

P.S I didn't wear any jewellery because of where I work...and also I was in a hurry this morning.

Sarah xxx

Kitten Diary: 6 Months Old

Monty's had a rough couple of weeks.

On Monday, he went to the vets for his castration and microchipping. He refused to get into his cat carrier and we ended up being 10 minutes late for his appointment because of this! Me and mum both got slightly teary as we left him there. I was worried about him constantly all day and was relieved when the vet's rang to say he was ok and i could pick him up.

Whilst picking him up we were told that he wouldn't eat much food and and to be prepared for him to sleep most of the day... That didn't happen at all. Five lots of food later and he still wasn't showing any signs of being sleepy. In fact, you wouldn't know he'd even had a minor operation if it wasn't for his patch of shaven fur on his paw.

Wednesday was the worst day of my life so far. Monty got his hind leg caught in the hinge of the washing machine door after falling from the counter. Of course I got his paw out straight away and rushed him over to the vets. He's ok - it was just a bruise...thank goodness...He got given some pain medication and he slept it off. But he's shaved 40 years off my life.

I have never been so scared/worried/upset in my life. He scratched me pretty deeply as I freed him but I barely noticed I was bleeding. I just cared about him.

I'm unbelieveably relieved and glad that he's ok but I'm still pretty shaken up - even now. It was the sound of his scream...I've never heard anything like it in my life...it will haunt me...

To finish on a happier (and slightly materialistic) note, Monty's now the proud owner of a new three tiered scratch post and a new comfy cat bed. He loves playing with his scratch post and it's a joy to watch him play.

Do you like these posts? Do you have any pets? Have they ever had an accident?

Sarah

The Worst Hand Cream Ever!

I've suffered from very dry hands recently, so I brought a hand cream from The Body Shop to see if that could help my hands.

I used the hand cream a few times and thought it was wonderful. It had such a luxousrious creamy texture and left my hands feeling so moisterised. The lovely rose scent made my hands smell delicious and I really thought I'd found the perfect hand cream.

Then the day after I had used it, tiny red itchy bumps started to appear on the back of my hands. I realised it must have been the hand cream as it was the only new product I'd started using. I stopped using the hand cream, and had to use a special cream to take away the itching. The bumps lasted several days and the itching was unbarable.

Having such a violent reaction to the hand cream knocked my confidence. I was ashamed to let people see my hands as they lookd ugly with the red blotches all over them. It made going to work differcult, and I felt rather down for the days that the allergic reaction lasted.

At £5 it wasn't too much of a waste of money but due to my experience I wouldn't recommend this hand cream to anyone - especially if you have sensitive skin like me.

Have you tried this hand cream? What did you think of it?

Sarah xx

Picture from Google

New Year's Resolutions

So I'm going to jump on the band wagon and blog about my resolutions and plans for 2013. This blog post has been inspired by others I've read and by YouTube beauty guru Nikki Phillippi's: "How To Be Happy January". If you haven't subscribed to her then where have you been? Just kidding. But serious go and subscribe to her she is amazing.

I feel 2013 is the right time to finally change my life for the better and really focus on making a better version of myself. I think by sharing my goals for this year with the internet it may give me the boost I need to follow through with them.

I'm going to lay them out the same way Nikki did in her video. So here are my "resolutions"/ goals:

1. Financial:
- in the long term I want to be able to afford a flat so I can move out and gain more independence.
- in the short term I want to re-decorate my room so I can have a space to work/spend time in that I think of as my little slice of heaven here on earth. To do this I have set the aim of saving £20 a week (let's see how long that lasts haha).
- I also want to save more money so I have money to fall back on if I need to fork out for something unexpectedly e.g Monty's vet bills. To do this I aim to save at least £10 a week.

2. Health and Fitness
-get more exercise! This is a big one as I am extremely unfit at the moment, to do this I aim to go to e gym at least once a week.
- to eat more healthily. I really want to become as healthy as I can and to do this I aim to eat at least one healthy thing a day.

3. Work
-in the long term I want to write a book. It has been a dream of mine to become a published author. To aid in this dream I aim to write for at least 10 minutes a day.
-I want to complete my BSY courses this year as well. To do this I want to do one question a day.
-I also want to start my own YouTube channel, whether that be a beauty channel or a book channel I don't know yet, maybe both...watch this space.
-I also want to develop this blog and make it into something I'll be really proud of, to do this I will aim to write one blog post a week at least.
-I also want to keep a diary this year. I do currently have one but I often neglected it so I aim to write for at least 10 minutes a day.
-I also want to read more, and I aim to read at least 48 books this year (4 a month).

4. Spiritual
-I want to read the Bible, this is part of learning more about my faith. So I have the aim to reading 5 minutes a day.
-I want to start going to Church again, so I'm going to aim to go once a week.
-I want to listen to Spiritual readers, this one I got directly from Nikki as I have started listening to Joyce Meyer and I'm really enjoying listening to her at the moment, she is very inspiring and motivating. I want to listen to a podcast at least 5 minutes a day.

5. Relationships/social
-I want to make a close friendship, I lost my who i thought was my best friend a couple of years when I found out what she was saying about me behind my back, and as a result I find it hard to trust people. So this year I would like to form a close friendship maybe even find a new best friend or maybe several.
-I want to make time to see my friends more, so I aim to see them at least once a week.
-I also want to be more social, by this I mean to except more invitations for doing things. I want to grab as many opportunities as I can.


So that's it- all my plans/resolutions for this year. But remember you don't have to make any if you don't want to. You could just make the decision to be happy.

Tell me your New Years resolutions/plans.

Sarah
Xoxo

2012 Best and Worst Bits

So 2012 was really the year when I became an adult. What I mean by this is that I took on a lot of responsibility and really took over the control of my life whereas before I was very dependent on other people. I really feel like I have the control in my life right now and I am so pleased that I have finally achieved that. I'm not going to say that 2012 was the best year of my life as you never now what's round the corner, but in comparison to previous years 2012 has been pretty darn good.

January - 2012 didn't get off to the greatest of starts as in the early hours of January 1st my family somehow managed to have a massive argument. This argument lead to us all not speaking to each other for a few weeks. But in true dysfunctional family style I can't even remember what we argued about now.

February - In a bid to stem the boredom I had at being unemployed I started volunteering at Fiveways school. Although challenging at first I really loved my time volunteering there. I found it really rewarding and it reminded my of how much I'd like to be a teaching assistant.

March - This month wasn't the best of months, I made some wrong decisions regarding a friend and we had a house party. This party wasn't what I thought it would be, not to mention all the clearing up I had to do in the morning!

April - Again this month was another bad month. Me and my then boyfriend split up. Naturally I was upset but in all honesty I had felt our relationship was coming to an end anyway. I think I needed to be on my own for awhile to work on myself and my life.

May - This month was much the same as the previous ones, searching for a job whilst continuing my volunteering at Fiveways.

June - I got a job! All the interviews finally paid off and I got a job in a child play centre as a play assistant. I was so pleased I got a job but at the same time, I was sad to have to stop volunteering at Fiveways.

July - Still getting the hang of my new job and loving every minute of it.

August - Two months into my job and I'm still enjoying it plus I've made new friends with the people I work with. Joined the gym in an effort to loss weight.

September - Two new members of staff at work who I help train and spent more time with my friends. I also joined Slimming World to aid in the process of me losing weight.

October - My birthday month - I turn 20 and receive the best birthday present ever: my kitten Monty. I spent the night of my birthday out on the town with my friends and some of the girls from work. It was a fun night and we all dressed up in fancy dress.

November - Still enjoying work and earning my own money. Started my Christmas shopping early to avoid any rush.

December - It's Christmas! And it was without doubt the best Christmas we have had so far. I got some amazing presents and I really enjoyed spending it with my birthday.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are ready for 2013! Lets make this the best year yet!

Monty's feeling poorly :(

Today I had to take poor Monty to the vets as he has had the sniffles and his breathing has gotten a little wheezy. It turns out he has a slight cold and the vet gave him an injection of antibiotics to help him fight it off. I have to keep an eye in him for the next few days in case he gets worse but I'm hoping he'll feel better.

Being honest I was very worried for him and I am extremely relieved that he will be ok. He was such a good boy at the vets - he didn't make a fuss even when he was injected!

I hope he feels better soon and returns to his normal happy self.

Love Sarah
Xxx