twitter instagram linkedin

Rachel Sarah XO

Hey guys!
So for Christmas I recently received a journal and what better way to start it off than write a list of New Years resolutions that I probably won't stick to?
I'm also not sure what category to put this in because a lot of it is to do with my mental health but I don't know if it should go in my mental health section of my blog because it's not really helping anyone else but myself, ahhh, how annoying.

Let's go!

  1. By the end of the year I hope to be able to stop letting people walk all over me.
    Let me elaborate. I've always been the person who's there for everybody and I'm always the shoulder to cry on, but funnily enough those people that I'm there for are never really there for me, so I'm going to do something about that. Also, I've never been able to stand up for myself, I just let people talk down to me and it's always me helping them out with things and when I need something or just want to talk they're always too busy or just have no time for me and I'm sick of it, so that's stopping.
  2. I will try to leave the house much more often and not let me social anxiety/agoraphobia get any worse.
    I've hardly left the house in the past 3 months. I might leave the house like twice a month at a push and I usually don't last more than an hour without feeling like I'm about to have a panic attack.
  3. I will stick to a certain diet and exercise routine. All I really do nowadays is sit on the sofa, sat at my laptop and I either forget to eat or I overeat. I'd quite like to try out the 5:2 diet which is basically where you eat a normal balanced diet for 5 days and then on two non-consecutive days you'll be on a severe calorie restriction. That usually means you can eat 500 calories on each of the two fasting days. So that sounds fun! I've also recently considered buying Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD so I'll be doing cardio daily aswell.
  4. I will allow myself more time to get stuff done if I need it. Like when I was at college I was always panicking about my coursework and rushing to get stuff finished when I knew that if I'd have asked my tutor for a short extension, she probably wouldn't have had a problem with it. But I'd hand in unfinished work or rushed work that wasn't to the best of my ability and get I'd get in even more trouble.
  5. I will not let my negative thoughts take over and control my life again. This year has been so hard what with exams and starting college and my negative thoughts were just out of control which has resulted in my anxiety being the worst it's ever been, now I don't have to deal with either of those two things and my negative thoughts are still being a little bitch, so next year I'm going to work on shutting out that annoying part of my brain and focus on doing better.
  6. I will blog more. Again with the allowing more time to get stuff done, I feel like I've been slacking with blogging, I've either not had the motivation to blog or I've done a blog post and it's just been so rushed that I want to delete it shortly after publishing it.
  7. I will try to stop stressing over stupid things. I stress about everything, it must drive my friends and family mental but that's just me. I'm aware I have obsessive compulsive tendancies and that's probably why but pathetic things like, if my make up doesn't look okay, I will take off my whole face of make up and spend another hour redoing it, which sounds crazy but I suppose it is. If my hair isn't perfectly straight I'll spend as long as it takes to get every hair on my head perfectly straight and it's just not fun.
I hope you guys have so much fun celebrating new years tonight (and don't get too drunk ;o).
I'd love to hear your new years resolutions.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel. xo
15:49 5 comments
(L to R) 1. I spend my nights reading Elle magazine and eating sushi. || 2. I went to see Rachel for a little while after not seeing her for over a month. || 3. I dyed my hair black and cut in a full fringe. || 4. I went bargain book hunting and found some gems in the charity shops.


(L to R) 1. Buying Grand Theft Auto V is probably the worst thing I've ever done, I'm now addicted. || 2. Dad got excited over his new tablet that he got for Christmas. || 3. I got really drunk on Christmas day, no change there. || 4. Christmas morning was the cutest thing.

I hope you all had a lovely December!
I hope you all have lovely new years celebrations planned also! :-)

That's all for now,
Rachel. xo
14:11 No comments
Hey guys!
Since I'm going to Essexland at the end of this month and spending time with my friend Joe for a few days, I thought I'd get my favourites out of the way now so that I'm not panicking about having to get it done next month, hahaha.

Let's get this thing going...

Songs I've been loving this month:
So there really hasn't been many songs I've been loving this month.
BUT OF MICE & MEN HAVE RELEASED TWO NEW SONGS FROM THEIR NEW ALBUM.
So yes,
Bones Exposed - Of Mice & Men.
You're Not Alone - Of Mice & Men.

Movies I've been loving this month:
Horror: Carrie (2013), Misery, The Lords of Salem, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
Comedy: Wild Child, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Ali G Indahouse, The Grinch, Elf.
Drama: I haven't even watched any drama's this month, oops!
Sci-Fi & Fantasy: The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings: The Fellowships of The Ring.

TV shows I've been loving this month:
The Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Video games I've been loving this month:
Bioshock - Xbox 360.
New Super Mario Bros - Nintendo DS.
The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Nintendo DS.

Drinks I've been loving this month:
Kopparberg (cider), Apple Sourz and Smirnoff. 'Tis the season to get shitfaced, fa la la la la, la la la la.

Food I've been loving this month:
Pizza flavoured crackers (mad right?!), Lemon cheesecake slices, Yorkshire puddings.

Make up items I've been loving this month: 
They're Real mascara by Benefit and that's about it really, haha!

Skincare products I've been loving this month: 
Sugar Crush body wash by Soap & Glory and Effaclar Duo (Corrective and unclogging anti-imperfection care) by La Roche-Posay

Life favourites:
CHRISTMASSSSS. (And getting super drunk.) I've been really quite happy this month, my motivation has let me down a bit though, oops!

Am I looking forward to next month?
I am actually, I've been invited to attend a 2-day course run by Mind, it's a 2-day Mental Health First Aid Course and I'm really excited. (Knowing me I'll back out of it at the last minute due to anxiety *sigh*)

How have your Christmas'/whatever it is you celebrate has been? :-) I'd love to hear about it!

That's all for now,
Rachel. xo
12:28 No comments
Hey guys!
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and ate lots of food and got lots of nice prezzies.
I will be putting a link to each item (or something similar) so you know where you can buy it from if you like it or whatever.
I shouldn't have to put a disclaimer on this but it looks like I'll have to. I am in no way bragging, these are all presents I received off my family and I'm appreciative of every single one of them.
Let's get to the haul!


24pc Make-up Brush Set.
I received this from my auntie Elaine and uncle Stewart. They asked me and my sister if we had any ideas for presents so we just send them the links to stuff we'd like and this was one of them. I will not be using these brushes with anything other than powder products as I found out yesterday, they soak up all of your cream/liquid products so I will probably just be using these for eyeshadow and bronzer/blusher/highlighter.

Stone Heart Plantpot.
Unfortunately I couldn't find this online, but my mum bought me this from The Range (I picked it out, haha) it was around £3.99 and she got me it to put those brushes in.


These are just a few bits from my stocking.

Haribo Starmix
I received these from my auntie Victoria and my uncle Steven. Me and Hannah may have done a swap since Hannah is madly in love with Haribo Tangfastics and I really like Starmix, haha!

Kinnerton Halloween Chocolates
In Norfolk is the huuuuge Kinnerton chocolate factory in Fakenham and next to that is a department store that sells loads of the Kinnerton chocolates super cheap, obviously the halloween ones were left over from when mum got me them but I like weird, creepy things so they're perfect! Taste good too.

Hello Kitty Plus Coin Purse
Not the exact same one as the one in the link (sorry I couldn't find the one in the photo) but again, mum bought it from the Kinnerton chocolate shop, yey! It's so cute and soft, it's like a little cushion.


Avon Orange and Ginger Shower Gel and Orange and Ginger Body Spray.
These are presents from my mum and dad and they know how much I love the scent of ginger, it's one of my favourites and I've never owned ginger scented shower gel so this should be a fun experience, haha!

Avon Cherry Blossom Shower Gel and Cherry Blossom body spray.
These are also presents from my mum and dad. (Obviously my mum picked all these out, hahaha) She knows how disappointed I was when The Body Shop discontinued their Japanese Cherry Blossom scent range and she found these on the Avon website, unfortunately these are now discontinued also :-( (hence the lack of links for this one)

Vanilla and Ginger Candle.
This was also from mum and dad and was also from The Range, I picked this candle out (seeing a ginger theme here?) although unfortunately they don't stock this on their website so no link, sorry! It was about £2.99-£3.99 I think. It just smells like Christmas in a jar, eeek.


Emily The Strange Bath and Body Gift Set with Wash Bag.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven, the funny thing about this gift is that on Christmas Eve I was so close to buying this from Boots as it was in the half price sale and I was like 'hm I might buy it with my Christmas money' and then when I unwrapped it on Christmas morning, I was so happy. It comes with a body lotion, bubble bath, shower gel and a gorgeous wash bag which I may use as my everyday make up bag now as my other one is getting a bit small (I own too much make up hahaha.)


Katy Perry 'Purr' Perfume: 50ml.
This is another gift that I'd sent my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven the link to and I was so pleased when I received it, it's so much prettier in person. LOOK AT THE BOTTLE, IT'S IN THE SHAPE OF A CAT. It smells gorgeous too! (The bottle isn't black, it's a really bright purple but the flash from the camera made it look black.)


I received all of the DVD's from my sister except the Lizzie McGuire Movie.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
My sister bought me this, she made me go into Tesco with her and pick a couple of DVD's out, obviously as she's only 12, she needed someone to go in with her so she could buy the DVD's that have a higher rating than 12, haha! This and Anastasia were on a 2 for £5 offer in Tesco.

Anastasia.
This DVD was my entire childhood, it was my favourite film, that and The Little Mermaid (notice the nostalgic DVD pattern? hahaha) Again, bought in Tesco on a 2 for £5 deal.

The Little Mermaid (Two Disc Special Edition)
I'm pretty sure Hannah got this from That's Entertainment but I'm not entirely sure. I'd been wanting this on DVD for aaaages, and only a few weeks ago, this was put on the Sky Disney channel so I was a bit annoyed that Hannah spent £10 on it when it's now on Sky Movies, bless her. She didn't let me watch it on Sky until I received the DVD on Christmas, aw!

The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven, I asked them if they'd buy it used as the brand new version is pretty expensive for some reason, it's in basically perfect condition though! I absolutely adored this film when I was younger and I owned it on VHS but as I no longer have a VHS player, I felt like I needed the DVD version in my life, haha!


 The two Mario games came with the DSI XL console itself as a bundle offer. And all of these were from my mum and dad.

Mario Kart DS.
This game came with the DS in a bundle, was so pleased though because I absolutely adore Mario Kart for the Wii so that's fun!

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
I've been wanting a Zelda foreverrrr and was so pleased when I was able to find this.

New Super Mario Bros.
I'd been wanting this game for ages, my sister has it for the Wii but it's not the same as playing it on a handheld. One thing I hate about it is that if you go over your 5 lives you have to start from the very beginning of the game. :-(

Lego: Lord Of The Rings.
Lord of The Rings are some of my favourite films and them in game form sounded great at the time, whilst playing it, I noticed the graphics are awful and the storyline isn't thrilling. D:


Pokemon Nintendo DS Travel Case.
My sister bought me this lovely little travel case for my DS and my games. It's so cute, it even comes with a black and white large stylus and a Pokemon printed cleaning cloth. (Hannah didn't pay £32 for it as it says on Amazon though hahaha)

Wine Red DSI XL.
This was actually mostly bought by myself and my parents chipped in a bit but wouldn't let me have it until Christmas, haha! It's great. So glad I didn't get the 3DS, the games aren't that great yet and I can't see in 3D. :-(

Sonic Screwdriver DS Stylus.
This did actually come in a twin pack and me and Hannah split the price and I gave her one for her new 3DS XL and she gave me the other one. We're huge Doctor Who fans so it's just perfect really. :-)


Carpe Diem Journal.
I actually asked for this from my auntie Elaine and uncle Stewart, I saw that it's goal is to help you achieve goals and to give yourself goals for each day, there's also like 5 pages for writing down feelings and stuff.
I thought this might help with my anxiety.

£10 Debenhams Gift Card.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and Uncle Steven, along with £20 Christmas money which I'm so appreciative of. I've already spent the gift card along with £5 of my christmas money on a MAC lipstick in Candy Yum Yum, it was only £15 so. :-)


Fujitsu Lifebook AH512.
This was my main present this Christmas which I actually received in August a results present as I needed a laptop for when I started college in September as my other one was absolutely knackered. (and look how that turned out) I felt really bad taking a laptop off my mum and dad as I felt like I'd failed them by doing so badly and they just went 'consider it a pity present', hahaha. (Excuse the dirt, I haven't given it a proper clean since I received it.) It's specs are pretty good. 320GB hard drive and I also have a 320GB external hard drive aswell, 4GB RAM and 2.2GHZ Intel Pentium processor.

GUINEA PIGS.
No, you can't buy my guinea pigs anywhere. This is also my main present this year. I also got my guinea pigs as an early present, we saw someone advertising guinea pigs to a good home and £20 for the cage and I instantly fell in love with them, we collected them the same day in October and I've loved them ever since.

I also got £40 Christmas money and the £10 Debenhams Voucher, and I've already managed to spend all my money, haha! I'll include these in here but I'll also do a seperate haul on them.

  • Sleek Vintage Romance Palette: £7.99
  • Kick-Ass 2 DVD: £9.00
  • Real Techniques Core Collection: £14.46
  • The Knife Of Never Letting Go book: £2.81
  • MUA Luxe Liquid Lipstick in Kooky: £3.00
  • MAC Lipstick in 'Candy Yum Yum': £15 (+£3.99 shipping)
Whilst I'm here, have some photos we took yesterday during Christmas day.

















I'm so grateful for everything I received and I'd just like to thank my family for all the wonderful gifts!
I had a great day and I hope you all did too.
Comment below your favourite gift you got given and what your favourite part of Christmas is.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel. xo
14:31 7 comments
Hey!
So I mentioned in my tag post last night that I'd be going out to town and raiding the charity shop for books. As my blog name suggests, I like books, hence the 'chapter'. I've just never really gotten round to talking about books and what not. So I took a list of books on Goodreads wishlist with me and found 4 of the books I've been wanting to read for aaaages. And then my little sister surprised me by going into Poundland by herself and finding a book for me. It was a weird experience being out of the house, admittedly I was only out for 45 minutes but I did and with no panic attacks! *yey*


The Pocket Book of Boosh - Poundland: £1.
Completely brand new book, retails for £10 in Waterstones (sorry what.) and whilst I was wondering round a charity shop, my sister went for a wander round Poundland and spotted this bad boy and bought it for me, bless her. I absolutely adore The Mighty Boosh and have recently gotten my sister into it, so yey!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Sue Ryder (charity shop): £1.
So the condition of this book when you first see it is OMG IT LOOKS BRAND NEW, but the spine is slightly indented (I can get over it because the cover is still in pretty condition). It retails second hand for around £3.50, so a bargain! I absolutely adore the movie and I've been looking for this book forever.

RSVP by Helen Warner - Sue Ryder (charity shop): £1.
THIS BOOK LOOKS LIKE IT'S NEVER BEEN READ. SCORE. I've basically picked up a brand new HARDCOVER copy of this book that retails for £8.99 usually. Okay so it is a Chick-lit book but who cares? It's been on my wishlist for ages and I finally bought it!

Survivor: My Story - The Next Chapter by Sharon Osbourne - PACT (charity shop): 25p.
YES YOU DID JUST READ THAT RIGHT. 25P FOR A PRACTICALLY BRAND NEW HARDCOVER COPY OF THIS BOOK. OH I'M GETTING TO EXCITED ABOUT BOOKS AH.
It retails for about £4-£6 new so this is a bargain beyond belief. Sharon Osbourne is a goddess aswell so you know.

A Living Nightmare (#1 in Cirque Du Freak series) by Darren Shan - PACT (charity shop): 25p.
I've remember getting this book out from the library a while ago and never actually got round to reading it, it's quite a short book so it'll only take a day and a bit to read it. And for 25p you can't go wrong.


Sugar Crush Body Wash from Soap & Glory - Boots: £6.50.
I only went into town with £10 and I had money left over, so yeah, that happened. Sugar Crush is my `favourite scent ever so, I DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF, I HAVE A PROBLEM OK. :-(

I hope you enjoyed this haul! You may now realise my excitement over books and how much I love to read so yes.
That's all for now,
Rachel. xo



15:02 6 comments
Hey guys!
It's been a while, I do apologise for the lack of blog posts lately, I've been having some real motivational problems lately and I've been trying my hardest to get into the 'christmas spirit' which has been kind of hard lately, but that's a whoooole other blog post. You will be seeing another blog post from me, either later on today or tomorrow, you should hopefully be seeing a charity shop book haul as I'm going out and raiding the charity shops with my little sister so that should be fun and maybe a Christmas Day outfit of the day on the 25th, if I can pluck up the courage to publish that one. I thought to ease myself back into blogging I'd do a tag, Charlotte from Girl In My Mirror tagged everybody who was reading her blog post to do this tag, so here I am, let's gooooo.

1. Do you have a middle name?
I do indeed, my middle name is Sarah. How boring. *yawn*

2. What was your favourite subject in school?
Definitely English literature, that was one of the only GCSE's I didn't mess up due to my anxiety. For the first year of it, I liked photography aswell but then my teacher became a bitch and didn't believe I'd get more than an E. I got a C, so that showed her.

3. What's your favourite drink?
Definitely, without a doubt, Pink Lemonade Lucozade. And Pepsi Max, duh.

4. What's your favourite song at the moment?
Gah, don't do this to me please! :-( Based on my most played this month, I'd go with Talk A Walk by Passion Pit and Live for The Night by Krewella. I may or may not have bought the Carrie soundtrack after seeing it at the cinema a couple of weeks ago.

5. What would you name your children?
If it was a boy, Dante. If it was a girl, either Arcadia or Anastasia.

6. Do you participate in any sports?
Um, does Zumba count?

7. What's your favourite book?
I'm beginning to really dislike whoever came up with this tag. I have about 3. Carrie by Stephen King, Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

8. What's your favourite colour?
Mint green and pink.

9. What's your favourite animal?
Penguins for sure.

10. What's your favourite perfume?
Probably Katy Perry's Killer Queen.

11. What's your favourite holiday?
Definitely either Halloween, so that I can watch horror movies freely without people judging me (people do that ugh) or Christmas.

12. Have your graduated from high school?
Yep, May this year.

13. Have you been out of the country?
Many times, usually to other european countries or the canary islands. I've been to Florida once, that was cool.

14. Do you speak any other languages?
I'd like to say yes since I studied it for 7 years, but French was not my strong point. I got a D in that in my final exams, um.

15. Do you have any siblings?
Yes, a little sister called Hannah. She's 12.

16. What's your favourite store?
Probably not classed as a 'store' but ASOS, or New Look.

17. What's your favourite restaurant?
I don't think I have one. Maybe Pizza Hut, haha.

18. Do you like school?
I actually really miss school, at the time I hated it but I really miss the friends I had in school. It's sad that I only kept in contact with maybe 4 of them.

19. Who are some of your favourite YouTubers?
Becca Rose, Sarah Hawkinson, DailyGrace, Zoella, MrRepzion, SprinkleofGlitter and iJustine.

20. What's your favourite movie?
I'm not even going to answer this probably. I'll give you a rough idea of my favourite movies but these are just my favourites that I can think of off the top of my head, there's like 100.
Aladdin, Tangled, This Is England, all the Saw films, Carrie (2013), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Shining, The Grinch, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, The Great Gatsby, all of the Star Wars films.

21. What are some of your favourite TV shows?
Cake Boss (no shame), Doctor Who, The Carrie Diaries, New Girl, Gavin & Stacey (I actually went on a pilgrimage to Barry Island this summer just to see the houses and the sea front. I even bought 3 Gavin & Stacey tea towels in the arcade where Nessa works, hahaha.) Misfits, Trollied and many others.

22. PC or Mac?
I absolutely adore Macs, as I had to work on them for 2 years during my time of doing photography. If I had a mac and a PC sat in front of me and I had to pick one to keep, I'd probably keep the mac.

23. What phone do you have?
White iPhone 4s 64gb.

24. How tall are you?
4'11". Don't even judge okay. I'm a short arse. :-(

25. Any pets?
Well my own personal pets, my two guinea pigs; Obi-Wan and Anakin. But household pets, two lovebirds called Shrek and Fiona, two budgies called Jack and Sally and two rabbits called Pixie and Dixie.

I tag anyone reading this right now!

That's all for now,
Rachel. xo


01:03 4 comments
Hey guys!
So the other day I made the impulse decision to dye my hair black. I was just so sick of my damaged blonde hair and just wanted a dark colour so that I could give my hair some time to repair. Well I just love the look of black hair on people with pale skin (I'm one of those pale skinned people) so I did it! I also cut in some vintage short bangs, (that's a short, curled upwards full fringe to us English people.)


Photo taken from Superdrug.
I used the dye 'L'Oreal Feria - Blackest Black', it uses a weird dye gel called colourant gel and the smell of that stuff is absolutely repugnant. The hair dye itself is permanent and lasts up to 24 weeks and it offers a 6 week treatment of high shine hair colour. This only cost £4.79 from Superdrug, but because I have suuuuper thick hair, I needed two bottles.

As I was putting black straight onto blonde, I left the colour on for a little short of the time it recommended. It recommended leaving it on for 30 minutes but I only left it on for 20, I needed my hair in the best condition possible or else it probably would have started falling out, haha.

I'm usually not a fan of using the conditioners that come with hair dye's, but as L'Oreal Feria is the hair dye my mum uses, she always raves about how lush the conditioner makes her hair feel, so hence the need the for this hair dye over any others. The conditioner and the high-shine elixir that you put in with the developer creme and colourant made my hair feel so soft and smooth. The conditioner comes in a medium sized tube and claims that it's a 6 week treatment, meaning the conditioner will last you 6 weeks, well I put the whole tube on my head straight after washing the dye out so...

After washing the dye out, conditioning and drying I decided to cut my fringe. I'd been admiring Bettie Page and Katy Perry for a while so attempted a short curled up full fringe, almost Bettie bang-like but without the shorter bits at the side. I absolutely love how my hair turned out. My fringe stops about an half an inch or so above my eyebrows so it's fairly short but too short. Just means I won't have to cut it so often when it grows out.

Here's the finished result. (Sorry for the awful webcam quality, it was the only way, haha!)
I'm really glad that I dyed it black and I don't regret it at all like I thought I would.
Gone are the days of brightly coloured hair, I think I'm sticking with this colour for a looong time.

That's all for now,
Rachel. xo


07:24 1 comments
Okay, this is my second mental health post in two days. I feel this needs to be said.

If you feel like you may have symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD or an eating disorder. You need to ask for help. Asking for help is not going to make you seem weak like some people think it will. If you don't ask for help and you don't have that support system there for you, god knows what might happen to you. Asking for help might not even be going to the doctors to try and get a referral to see a counsellor, it could just be telling a parent, a friend, anyone that's close to you but you need to make someone aware of what you're feeling. I know I definitely left it really late, I'd been having panic attacks and having low moods 2/3 years before I even told my parents about it, I told them when things started to get debilitating which isn't good because when it came to seeing a counsellor, it was harder for her to help me because I'd let things get so bad. Also, maybe getting a diagnosis could give you some kind of closure, I wasn't prepared to start recovery until I knew exactly what was going on which turned out be general anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder and depression (yey for things! -.-).

I'm going to put down some symptoms of depression, anxiety and ocd, if you feel like you have a lot of the symptoms, you must tell someone before it develops into to something more serious. The sooner you see someone about it, the quicker they can prevent it from developing.

Depression:
  • continuous low moods or sadness.
  • feeling hopeless and helpless
  • having low self-esteem 
  • feeling tearful
  • feeling guilt-ridden
  • feeling irritable and intolerant of others 
  • having no motivation or interest in things
  • finding it difficult to make decisions
  • not getting any enjoyment out of life
  • feeling anxious or worried 
  • having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself.
  • moving or speaking more slowly than usual 
  • change in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased) 
  • unexplained aches and pains
  • lack of energy or lack of interest in sex (loss of libido)
  • changes to your menstrual cycle
  • disturbed sleep (for example, finding it hard to fall asleep at night or waking up very early in the morning)
Anxiety:
  • restlessness
  • a sense of dread
  • feeling constantly "on edge"
  • difficulty concentrating
  • irritability
  • impatience
  • being easily distracted
  • dizziness
  • drowsiness and tiredness
  • pins and needles
  • irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
  • muscle aches and tension
  • dry mouth
  • excessive sweating
  • shortness of breath
  • stomach ache
  • nausea
  • headache
OCD:
  • fear of deliberately harming yourself or others
  • fear of harming yourself or others by mistake or accident
  • fear of contamination by disease, infection or an unpleasant substance
  • a need for symmetry or orderliness
  • fear of committing an act that would seriously offend your religious beliefs
  • cleaning
  • handwashing
  • checking (such as checking doors are locked, or that the gas or a tap is off) 
  • counting
  • ordering and arranging
  • hoarding 
  • asking for reassurance
  • needing to confess
  • repeating words silently
  • prolonged thoughts about the same subject
  • "neutralising" thoughts (to counter the obsessive thoughts)
Please remember, there's always help whether you think there is or not. I'm going to list some links below for free self-help or counselling available in the UK.

ChildLine - ChildLine have a one to one instant messaging service where you can speak to a professional counsellor about any problems you may be facing. Or you can ring their confidential freephone number to speak to a counsellor: 0800 1111.

Samaritans - Call 08457 909090. The Samaritans are best known for being a suicide hotline, but they're there to listen to any problems regarding, stress, anxiety, depression or suicide.

PAPYRUS: Prevention of Young Suicide - PAPYRUS run a suicide hotline called HOPELine UK, Hopeline is a number you can call if you're just not coping with whatever life is throwing at you. If you're not coping, feeling suicidal, feeling as if you're putting yourself at risk, the professionals at Hopeline are there to help. Calls are free from BT landlines: 0800 068 41 41. Or you can text them on 07786 209697.

I honestly hope this post has been of some help. I'm always here for you to talk to if life just isn't going the way you'd planned, I'll be here to listen. :-)

Thanks for reading,
Rachel. xo
09:23 2 comments
Let's be honest, anyone with any sort of mental health problem has probably received discrimination about their problems at least once. You may think, "oh mental health problems are too common for there still to be stigma surrounding it." Well, yes, you're right. Mental health problems are common, but there's still them stupid idiots that don't actually understand anything about mental illnesses and feel the need to judge you for it.

Here, have some stats that I'm about to throw in your face.

  • 1 in 4 people will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.
  • 1 in 10 young people experience mental health problems.
  • Depression affects 1 in 12 of the entire population.
  • Rates of self-harm in the UK are the highest in Europe at 400 per 100,000.
  • 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem.
  • Nearly 3 in 4 young people fear the reactions of their friends when they talk about their mental health problems.
450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem and people still feel the need to judge. Excuse me whilst I come over there and slap you really hard in the face. That's ridiculous. Don't get me started on getting a job. Trying to get a job whilst having a mental health problem is the worst thing, when you fill out the equal rights form they ask if you have a disability or a mental illness, I know I definitely don't make a point of putting that on my job application. Not because I'm ashamed or anything like that, but because the majority of employers are the type of people that'll discriminate against you hard for having a mental illness. And don't even get me started on if I had a panic attack whilst at work, my employer would see/hear about it and I'd get chucked straight away. Yes, we sign the 'equal rights' form so that people believe the employer isn't going to judge you, but we all know what a load of crap that is. I mean, you go to an interview and it's between you and another person. You're suffering from a mental illness that your possible employer knows about and the other person has a mental illness but hasn't told the employer, who do you think is going to get the job? It's wrong, but the person that didn't tell the potential employer.

People also believe that people with mental illnesses might just come up to you and attack you in the middle of the street? Hahah, no. Most people with mental illnesses won't have the confidence to even walk up to you, let alone attack you. People with mental illnesses are more likely to hurt themselves than you.

The media. Oh golly, the media. The media like to make up all sorts of nonsense regarding mental illnesses and they're 75% of the problem and are putting thoughts into people's heads.
Here, have some more statistics regarding mental health and the media:

  • Over a 3 month period 74 programmes contained storylines on mental health issues of these there were 33 instances of violence to others and 53 examples of harm to self 
  • Almost half were sympathetic portrayals, but these often portrayed the characters as tragic victims 
  • the most commonly referred to condition was depression, which was mentioned 19 times, breakdown was mentioned 8 times and bi-polar 7.
  • 63% of references to mental health in TV soaps and drama were "pejorative, flippant or unsympathetic" terms included: "crackpot", "a sad little psycho", "basket case" , "where did you get her from?", "Care in the Community?" and "he was looney tunes"
Like come on, for gods sake. Imagine walking past someone that's aware of your mental illness for one reason or another and you get called a 'sad little psycho' or a 'basket case'. That's not okay. Newspapers are also good examples to use, they pretty much all the time describe people with mental illnesses as 'violent', 'criminals', 'shouldn't be allowed in the community', 'they're evil'. Oh god, sorry, to me that sounds like you're describing a serial killer, not a normal person in society who has a few problems going on in their head. Society nowadays actually disgusts me.

I went to the doctors a few months ago regarding anxiety medication and the doctor asked me if there's any background of mental illnesses in the family, and my mum told him that she'd suffered from depression before and her mum had a few mental illnesses. And do you want to know what his response was? "That's fine, that's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. It's like you telling me your family has a history of high blood pressure or diabetes or something." He was probably the nicest doctor I've ever seen regarding my mental health. I've seen a few doctors who've just shrugged me off their shoulders and turned me away. It's doctors like them that aren't worth working for the NHS, they aren't giving people the help they need. Here's another example, I went to the doctors regarding my past problem with Trichotillomania (the act of pulling ones hair out), all I wanted to know is if there was anyone I could see about it or anything and the exact words of the doctor were "come back when you have bald patches all over your head." I'M SORRY, I'VE JUST APPROACHED YOU LOOKING FOR HELP AND YOU'RE GOING TO TURN ME AWAY AND GIVE ME THAT 'OH WELL YOU LOOK OKAY THEREFORE NOTHING CAN BE GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD, DON'T BE STUPID' CRAP? For some mad reason, that doctor no longer works at the doctor's surgery I go to and specifically asked not to see him ever again regarding any of my doctor's appointments. Back to the point, that first doctor was completely right, mental health problems are nothing strange or weird, it's exactly the same as having high blood pressure or a problem with your joints, only the people with problems with their joints don't get crap for whatever it is that's wrong with them.

This has been the rantiest rant I've ever written on this matter and it felt good to just write it all down. I hope the statistics were of some use and you understand that mental illnesses are nothing to be feared in society.

Thank you for reading,
Rachel. xo
04:08 6 comments

1. Naked 3 Palette by Urban Decay. - £37.
The colours in this palette are absolutely gorgeous, I love the idea of the rose gold tones in the eyeshadows, also, who doesn't need another Naked palette in their collection?

2. Artist Palette for Eyes by Laura Mercier. - £36.
To me, this is the most perfect neutrals palette, all it needs is a black and it would be the only palette I'd need in my life, haha! Laura Mercier single eyeshadows are great so I'd like to think the palette would be great too!

3. Kick-Ass 2 DVD. - £9.99.
So, this movie holds a lot of memories for me. I went to see this movie at the cinema when I visited Joe in Essex in Summer this year and it was just a great day. The Kick-Ass movies are up there in my top 10 favourite movies of all time so, this is a must have for me.

4. Evil Eye Silver Bracelet. - £1.19.
I recently bought the matching necklace of this bracelet to wear on Christmas day which can be seen here, I'm debating whether to get the matching bracelet though, obviously since it's coming from China it won't be here in time for Christmas. I just think it'll look really nice with my new circle lenses, I don't know.

5. Vice 2 Palette by Urban Decay. - £37.80.
This is the most beautiful palette I've ever seen. The colours are perfect. There's only two of the colours that I probably wouldn't be able to find a way to make a look out of it but 2/20 isn't bad!
All of the colours in this palette are exclusive to the palette and you can't buy them in single eyeshadow form so that's good I suppose!

6. MAC Lipstick in Up The Amp. - £12.15.
Unfortunately, it's currently out of stock. The MAC lipsticks sell like hot cakes on the Debenhams website, everytime I go to look for the lipstick I want, it's 9 times out of 10, always sold out. :-( I might end up paying the £15 for it from the MAC website, I'm not sure yet though.

7. Pug Eyes iPhone 4 Case by Urban Outfitters. - £12.
This is the cutest phone case, I've been on the hunt for either a pug or cat face phone case for ages! For me, £12 is a bit expensive for a phone case, most I've ever spent on a phone case is £5 and that was a 3D Spiderman case, haha!

8. LA Lakers Slippers - £26.99.
I've been really into wearing slippers lately, I probably can't justify spending nearly £30 on a pair of slippers though but oh well, they're adorable! They also match my Lakers Skullcandy earphones, aw. They just look so cosy, can I have them now pleaaaase?

9. The Lion King Charm Bracelet by Disney. - £15.
As an obsessed Disney lover, I feel that this needs to be a part of my life or else I won't know how to function, haha! How adorable is it though?! This is part of the Lion King Musical collection though (hence there's no cartoon Simba to be found). 

Let me know what you guys have on your wishlists this month!
That's all for now.
Rachel. xo
13:40 1 comments

How many hours a week do you spend planning/writing/uploading blog posts?
On an average week, I'd say about 2+ hours planning blog posts. 1-2 hours editing photos. 1-3 hours writing and uploading. So about 7 hours.

Are you a spender or a saver?
Definitely a spender, the moment I have any money in my bank account I have to spend it. It's probably not the best way to live, but oh well!

When is it easiest for you to write blog posts?
I basically just have so much free time lately that I just write them whenever I can, haha! Usually evenings though, I'm more relaxed in the evenings.

What makes writing posts comfortable for you?
I like writing blog posts in the living room for some reason, I like to be near people when I write them as I can get feedback from them before I publish the post. If my mum doesn't like the blog post, it won't get published, haha!

What's your worst makeup/hair habit?
I dye my hair far too much which has now lead my hair to be in awful condition. I also leave way too long to clean my brushes, gross I know but I'm lazy.

What's one quote you wish the world would live by?
I have no idea. Maybe "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein.

How long do you spend getting ready?
Not including a shower. 15 minutes for make up, 15 minutes for hair and 10 minutes getting dressed. 
So just under an hour.

What's your favourite post on your blog?
I'd say my two mental health posts have got the most attention and such a good response. In the way of beauty related posts, probably my Undress Me Too Palette review, it was my first blog post and my favourite blog post of them all.

Who is a beauty blogger that you think deserves more subscribers than they have?
Definitely Vanessa of Citron and Guavaberry, she just produces the funniest beauty posts and for a lot of beauty bloggers, you don't get that sense of comedy in their posts. If I were you, I'd follow her if you love Doge references. ;o
Also, Charlotte of Girl in My Mirror, she's just a lovely girl and produces some great posts! She's been in the blogging world around the same amount of time as me so yeah, follow her please!

What's one thing you're excited about in the coming year?
I don't know, not a lot at the moment. I haven't really made any plans to do anything this far in advance. I'll probably go on holiday with the family, so that'll be fun.

What's been your favourite blogging moment?
Probably getting to 30 overall followers. I was pretty shocked that I'd even get up that amount after only a month of blogging, so yey!

How long does it take to prep for a blog post?
Depends what kind of post I'm doing. If it's a review, about an hour as I have to take pictures, edit them, upload them. If it's a mental health post about the same amount of time as I have to make sure all of the information is correct. And for a tag like this, none at all, just brain power.

Are you wearing jeans/skirt right now, or are you wearing pyjama bottoms?
I'm currently wearing pyjama bottoms as I like to be comfortable when blogging.

What are you most proud of in your life?
I'm not entirely sure. I suppose, attempting to face my fears. I may not have succeeded but I tried and that's all anyone can ask of me. :-)

I tag everybody that's reading this right now!
So, go go go.

That's all for now,
Rachel. xo

Follow me on Twitter and Tumblr!



20:29 4 comments
So movies and video games are my favourite things to spend my money on, why? Because you can pretty much keep them forever. So when I was let loose with £60 CEX store credit and £20 in cash, you know what I did. Might I just say, CEX is the worst company I've ever had to do business with, their customer service is absolutely awful, their staff are useless and ugh. THEY EVEN MISSED AN ITEM OFF MY ORDER, which is why you're not seeing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time for the Nintendo DS in this photo, because the idiots forgot it. So without further adieu, here we gooooo.


(L to R) Saw Quadrilogy (Saw, Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV), Mallrats, Let The Right One In, Let Me In, Happy Feet, American Dreamz, Aladdin, The Mighty Boosh Live, This Is England, The Shining, Tangled, Bioshock (Steel Tin Edition for Xbox 360), Bioshock 2 (Xbox 360), The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) and Lego Lord of The Rings (Nintendo DS).



Saw Quadrilogy - £6 from CEX.
I absolutely adore everything Saw, it's probably one of my most loved movie franchises. For £6 I thought this quadrilogy was an absolute steal.

Mallrats - 99p (+£1.20 for P+P) from eBay.
Jay and Silent Bob are basically my favourite characters ever. I've just adore all of the movies that they appear in and they just make the movies they're in like 50 times better. Mallrats is just hilarious and I highly recommend it.

Let The Right One In - £1.27 from eBay.
So I've been looking to get this DVD for ages but I was umming and ahhing about it for months because I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it and that's purely because of the subtitle situation (this film is in Swedish so), I haven't got round to watching it yet but I've heard good things. When I last went up to Essex to visit my friend Joe, he had LTROI and Let Me In on his DVD shelf and he told me they're both really good so why not.

Let Me In - £1.90 from eBay.
I knew as soon as I saw this film for under £2 that I was going to buy it. Chloe Moretz is one of my favourite actresses and she's in this film so there was no way I could not buy this. I'm really looking forward to watching this. This is the British-American remake of Let The Right One In so that means, Chloe Moretz and no subtitles, woo!

Happy Feet - £1 from eBay.
So I basically just bought this to replace my other version of this DVD which my sister decided to snap in half when she was in a mood with me, not cool, Hannah. Happy Feet is the cutest film ever if you're into singing and tap-dancing penguins, this is the film for you.

American Dreamz - £1 from eBay.
American Dreamz is a great film and I needed the DVD version of this film to complete my Hugh Grant collection (yes, I own every single one of his movies on DVD, don't judge.) All I'm going to say is, it's a comedy about a singing talent show and politics, if that hasn't intrigued you I don't know what will.

Aladdin (Music Masterpiece) - £5 from CEX.
Aladdin is my favourite Disney movie tied with The Little Mermaid and Tangled so when I saw this for £5 I had to grab it, which is such a great price considering it's the special edition musical masterpiece edition. I don't know what you're doing with your life if you've never seen Aladdin. I feel for you, I really do, haha.

The Mighty Boosh Live - 99p (+£1.10 P+P) from eBay.
Well, to start off with, the seller actually sent me the wrong DVD, they were meant to send me The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour DVD but instead sent me the original 2006 live tour DVD, which I didn't mind so much considering it was only like £2, now if I'd have spent £6 on it brand new or something I probably would have complained, haha.

This Is England - £3.19 from eBay.
This Is England is up there in my favourite movies list, I've seen it on TV a few times but never got round to owning it on DVD and was rather disheartened when the day I ordered it, I look on US Netflix and it was on there. :-( So really, I probably didn't have to spend £3 on the film because I'm sure it's going to stay on Netflix for a while.

The Shining - £2.50 from CEX.
The Shining is my favourite book ever and the film version is just as good as the book, it hadn't been shown on Film4 or Sky Movies in a while and it wasn't on Netflix so I just had to buy this.

Tangled - £8 from CEX.
Okay, so kind of expensive considering it's pre-owned and you can get it on Amazon brand new for £7 but I mean I had £60 of store credit to use and I was basically desperate for this film on DVD so.

Bioshock (Steel Tin Edition for Xbox 360) - £5 from CEX.
Not a bad price considering CEX were selling the normal edition for £5 also, so why not spend the same amount on a prettier looking case, haha. This is another game that Joe had recommended to me, he's literally obsessed with anything Bioshock so I thought I'd buy Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

Bioshock 2 (For Xbox 360) - £4 from CEX.
£9 for both Bioshock games is not bad so I just had to buy them both. I can't wait to play them as I've heard so many good things about them and yey.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (for Nintendo DS) - £12 from CEX.
Yet again, another incredibly overpriced item from CEX, I hesitated buying this because I could get it brand new for £12 elsewhere but as I said earlier, I had store credit that needed to be used up by 5th December so.

Lego Lord of The Rings (for Nintendo DS) - £10 from CEX.
I'm getting the feeling that CEX really like to overcharge people but hey ho, store credit right, haha.
Lord of The Rings are great films and a video game version in Lego form has to be good right?

That's all for my DVD and video game haul,
I hope you enjoyed it.
That's all for now,
Rachel. xo




10:13 2 comments
So last week I did my 'how to recognise a panic attack' post and I'm thinking about doing a weekly mental health related post as it got a pretty good response last time.
This time round I'm going to be discussing depression and how it can affect your motivation.

So, depression can take a lot out of you. You may not want to wake up in the morning and you may want to stay in bed all day... Everyday. This is just one of the symptoms of depression. You'll often feel exhausted, overly-tired and just very rough.
Lack of motivation can actually make you feel much worse as you'll lie in bed all day doing nothing and at the end of the day you'll go "oh crap, I didn't actually do anything productive today." As someone who doesn't go to college, doesn't have a job and has no means of transport, this is something that's been happening a lot recently so I thought for my sake and for the sake of others, I'm going to make a list of things you can do to try and be a bit more motivated.

Now I'm going to tell you ways of getting yourself off that sofa and doing something a bit more productive, you'll need to start off with baby steps though:

  • Playing video games, reading a book and writing can actually be really motivational, you may have no motivation to get out of bed but if you do any of these things, I suppose you're achieving something whether it's meaningful or not.
  • Start a blog, that's what I did. Again, this is something that some people may not think is exactly motivational but it's something to be proud of if it becomes successful. I try my hardest to do blog posts almost daily (depending on my mood) and if I complete 5 or 6 blog posts in a week I feel like I've achieved something.
  • Set yourself a list of chores. So you may be sat there thinking 'why would I do that, I hate housework'. Yes, that may be, but if you complete a list of chores you will often be rewarded in doing so. Receiving rewards and praise is a great way of becoming more motivated.
  • Think positively. If you're not thinking positively, you're going to be in a slump all day which isn't going to help with your motivation problem. If you think positively, you're going to be much more pleased if you do something productive with your day.
  • Make a playlist. Make a playlist of songs that make you happy and make you want to dance around your room all day. That way you're going to be getting yourself out of bed. Music can also help when doing housework, I find doing chores much easier if I have music playing really loudly, haha. For me, it's extremely cheesy 80's pop songs.
  • Get into a routine. Set yourself a time to wake up, get up, have breakfast, get ready and get on with things that need to be done.
  • Don't be disheartened. If you're reading this now and thinking 'YES I'M GOING TO DO ALL THE THINGS TOMORROW' and you wake up and feel awful, don't be disheartened, there's always tomorrow. Things like this take time to get used to if you've been lacking motivation for a while. Start off easy like reading a book and work your way up to going out and doing the weekly shop or whatever.
  • Exercise. You get on that Wii Fit board that's been hiding away in the cupboard for months or whack out the Zumba waistband and you do those dances. Exercise is a great way to become more motivated. Things like Zumba are great because it's fun and you're making your body feel better.
  • Don't sleep too much or too little. I can't say anything about sleeping too little. I'm the worst at the step. I get to sleep at around 5am and then wake up at 2:30pm and there's the majority of my day gone. If you're like me and just can't sleep, taking 3/4 of a Nytol tablet will knock you out within 15 minutes and you don't wake up with the Nytol hangover. If you're to take a full tablet before bed, be warned, you will wake up with all the symptoms of a hangover in the morning,
I think that's about it for this post! I hope this helped one of you. :-)
That's all for now,
Rachel. xo
01:30 4 comments
Newer Posts
Older Posts

About me

Hi!

My name is Rachel, I'm 23 and I'm from Norfolk, UK. I write about life, beauty, mental health and Crohn's Disease.

Email rachelsarahcummingsxo@gmail.com for enquiries.


Follow



users online

Follow Us

INSTAGRAM

recent posts

Blog Archive

  • ►  2020 (1)
    • ►  June (1)
  • ►  2015 (7)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  October (1)
    • ►  April (1)
    • ►  March (1)
    • ►  February (1)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2014 (37)
    • ►  December (6)
    • ►  July (1)
    • ►  June (2)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (6)
    • ►  February (4)
    • ►  January (12)
  • ▼  2013 (42)
    • ▼  December (15)
      • NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.
      • A MONTH IN INSTAGRAM: December.
      • DECEMBER FAVOURITES.
      • HAUL: Christmas Presents.
      • HAUL: Bargain Books and Sugar Crush!
      • TAG: Get To Know Me.
      • KIND OF REVIEW: Goodbye Silver Hair. (L'Oreal Feri...
      • MENTAL HEALTH: Please don't wait until it's too late.
      • MENTAL HEALTH: Rant About Stigma Surrounding Menta...
      • Wishlist #3.
      • TAG: Confessions of a Beauty Blogger.
      • HAUL: DVD's & Video Games.
      • MENTAL HEALTH: Depression - Get Motivated!
      • REVIEW: Nivea Rich Moisturising Day Cream for Dry ...
      • MENTAL HEALTH: Panic Attacks.
    • ►  November (21)
    • ►  October (6)

Created with by ThemeXpose | Distributed By Gooyaabi Templates