Food Diary 18th January

I have realised over time that if I ever eat healthy, it's because I've written down what I've eaten! So that later on you realise "my lord I've had 19 snacks today? REALLY SELF?"! I'm a major list person, if I need to be productive, I have to write lists. I then feel a sense of accomplishment! SO I've decided that I'm going to plan my eating habits a day in advance. I know what I like to eat, and what I don't, I know when I start to feel impulsive & my main problems are eating at night & not drinking enough water! So hopefully, by planning what I'm going to eat in the day, I'll have to stick to it, and not stray away!

Breakfast: Porridge with 2 Tbsp of half spoon sugar! - 180 calories + 32 calories = 212 calories :)

I have university at 11am, so I'll take a midday snack with me of a chocolate chip cereal bar - 90 calories!

I'm getting a make-over at benefit at 1pm tomorrow with my friend Rose, so that will delay lunch, hence need for a snack!

I'm going to grab a baked bean jacket potato whilst I'm in town - NO CHEESE LAUREN! I'm almost going to be sticking around to do some work in university! 396 calories

My mid-afternoon snack will be some greek yoghurt - 79 calories :)

My boyfriend has work till 5pm so I'll be making dinner :) I think I'm going to go for Chicken Kiev, with new potatoes, brocolli and cauliflower :) with gravy! - 338 + 126 + 30 = 494 calories

Now if I don't go to bed till 11pm and I have dinner at 6pm, there's 5 whole hours where I'm not eating. That sounds silly but I know that I need to have a late night snack of honey nut cornflakes - 179 calories. I really have an eating problem, I will just eat anything in sight, especially when I'm working or watching TV. I just eat eat eat!!

I'm definitely going to drink about 5/6 glasses of squash, and take my litre bottle of strawberry flavoured water with me to university, just so I'm not tempted to buy diet coke. I know that most of the time we think we're hungry when we're thirsty & I do think thats the problem for me sometimes, the rest of the time, I want snacks nomnom. Badddd!

I bought zumba for myself the other day! So I'm definitely going to do the beginner hour where you learn all the steps tomorrow in the day :) so that I can do their workouts everyday! I tried to do this the other day, but the puppies decided to step in and dance with me. Very distracting!

Right so here's the embarrassing part! The reason I'm trying to stop myself snacking, try to eat varied meals, is because I went to the doctors for my health check, and the lady told me I'm overweight for my height. I know that I am, but she said she had to check my waist circumference to check if I'm 'fat round my middle, because that puts me at risk of developing diabetes." Now I think that is just rude, but it was the slap in the face I needed. I went to the gym 3 times last week and did the 20 minute shred workout, but I did both in one day, and my thighs were rock solid and aching for dayssss. I even did a warm down and stretched, I just worked them really hard. So I was out of action & then the snow hit and I was like ahh pooop.

So we're meant to get a massive amount of snow in cheery old England this weekend, so I'm going to try & focus on zumba, and do a workout every day this weekend! Then I think the snow is stopping mid-next week so I can get back into the gym :)

Current Weight - 150 lbs.

My aim is to have lost 30 by summer for my birthday. That's 6 months and about 5lbs to lose a month, very do-able I say. That sounds like a massive amount, and I thought so too because I'm only 5 ft 1, but the nurse said that was realistic because I would then just be a healthy weight for my height!

Here's hoping! Motivate me, thanks!

xoxox

The Great Expectations Tag

I thought as it's been a snowy day & I have had no chance to leave the house, I'll do the Great Expectations Tag :)! 

1.Beauty Bad Habit to Get Rid Of

I think a major one for me last year was leaving my make-up on at night, I was sooo terrible for this! Especially if I only had like foundation and mascara on, I’d forget it was still make-up! Thank god, since the new year, I’ve dived into the deep end with my liz earle face routine! Which has saved my skin for sure! Towards the end of last year my diet, stress & hormones led to me having acne break outs in patches of my face which I’ve never had before! I was terrified, but at least it gave me the push I needed to change my attitude and help myself out. Results are amazing, and I’m so happy! 

2.Beauty Secret to Add This Year

Water! I gave up diet coke, about a month ago, and now I only drink strawberry flavoured Volvic water (no sugar) or squash! So just water really, the odd glass of milk if I’m feeling wild. Combined with my change to my skin care routine, and my dry patches around my nose are clear, my skin feels softer and more hydrated. I feel so much more energised, I used to think that diet coke gave me caffeine so I’d be more active, I’ve realised it made me so lethargic instead. Misguided! 

3. Last Year's Beauty Favourite

It definitely has to be my foundation combination, which is Benefit’s tinted moisteriser light mixed with a little bit of Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation. The foundation gives me a little bit more coverage, but the tinted moisteriser is incredible. It makes me look so awake and my skin looks so natural! It feels slightly lighter but similar to Rimmel’s wake me up foundation, unfortunately, they don’t do a pale enough shade for me, and the 2 lightest shades I have bought are far too orange :( devastated!

4. Beauty/Body Goal for 2013

To lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in my undies! I am very much like Bridget Jones in her first movie, where she has the granny spanx and isn’t afraid to use them everyday! I always feel uncomfortable walking around in my underwear! I try to get changed in the bathroom so my boyfriend can’t see, which is ridiculous! So he’s helping me get motivated for the gym and we’re trying to eat less junk food (this week has been STRESS LEVEL DEF CON 5 so no healthy eating for me), but hopefully we started off the year great going to the gym 3/4 times a week, so I’m feeling positive for 2013!! 

5. Last Years Biggest Fashion Mistake

Oh definitely leggings! Only because I began like many people did, to think that it was acceptable to wear just a top and leggings. Granted I wore something over mine so the booty was not very viewable, but I just don’t think in retrospect it was a great look for me. Especially because I’m curvy, my booty sticks out anyway, there’s no need to draw that much attention to it! 

6. This Year's Fashion Trend Prediction

Oooh definitely the whole white & black trend, but then white for whole complete outfits is meant to be big this year?! I’m soooo excited for the 60s trend! For major cat eyeliner, A-line dresses, volumous up do’s! I’ve already purchased a couple of 60s dresses, one was umm dogtooth monochrome patterned, makes me like like a right disco diva. 

7. This year's fashion Must-Have

I’m definitely going to be stocking up on more neutrals! I’ve realised that me trying to incorporate bright colours from summer, does not work. Neutrals suit me so much better, and I don’t waste money but investing in more! 

8. Last Years Happiest moment/ biggest Achievement

Happiest moment was definitely falling in love and getting my puppies! Tears! My biggest achievement was moving out of my family home! Last year was a major change for me, and I finally grew up! Which I’m very happy about, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier :) 

9. Last Year's Biggest Challenge

Nothing in particular really stands out to me as a massive challenge, I worked a lot and went to university. Nothing pipes up in my mind. I guess, moving in with my boyfriend, whilst moving out of the flat that my ex-friends were moving into, all in the same weekend, whilst working 8 hours each day. That was difficult, emotional but very fulfilling. 

10. This Year's Key Resolution

To graduate from university! It will be the end of a chapter, but my main aim this year is achieve 2:1s in all of my work! And I’m off to a great start :) 

11. Any Motto/Advice for the Year

“Whatever you are, be a good one” - Abraham Lincoln. 

Not the most intricate of quotes, but short and sweet. That’s all I think I should live by, whatever I do with my life as long as I try my hardest to be the best I could possibly be, I’ll have done myself proud, and that is all that matters! We put far too much pressure on ourselves to be a certain way, it’s a very sad world we live in. 

Please feel free to copy this tag and do it yourself! I found it very relaxing and therapeutic! Like I was counseling myself! Yes I have done a bang up job of my life the last couple of years! Woop!

The tag was originally started by Patricia http://www.youtube.com/Britpopprincess and I saw this tag on beauty crush’s youtube channel & here is a link to her video :) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRLG_AU0n8c 

Update Number One

I think I’m going to write an update every two weeks on how me and my little family are doing so I hope you enjoy them! I hope this will be motivation for me to make my life a little more interesting! 

University!

I’ve only been back at university but I’ve already handed in one essay for Infant Development. Which was insane, I’ve never been given an assignment with such little guidance. I was absolutely oblivious along with the rest of my class, as to what the lecturer wanted. This was so difficult and drove me up the wall! So stress mania! I’ve also had to kick start work on my dissertation research. As I do psychology as my degree, we have to do research into a topic that has been either not researched at all or not in depth. The majority of people on my course have just done their dissertation on well researched topics, so annoying. Mine is on the influence of Peer Acceptance on Peer collaboration in children in Primary Schools. Basically, does what your classmates think of you, affect how well you work with other children? Lots of research has been done, there has been no research into the link, I’m so excited!!! And pretty positive that it will be significant so very excited :) Working so hard, I’m very proud of myself and feel so much better about myself!

Myself: 

• Current Read - Cheryl Cole’s autobiography. Hmm her life is interesting, I feel like I know everything she’s saying already because of how in-depth the media invades her life anyway. She describes it as a tell-all on her life experiences, her adolescence was a lot more dramatic than I thought, but there’s not many secrets. If you read magazines last year, you know most of what she says anyway. I also got Lauren Conrad’s new beauty book for Christmas, which is full of beautiful and inspirational pictures, girl crush!

• Current Music Loves - When I’m in the gym, I absolutely love James Arthur’s little album from his songs on X-Factor, he’s an incredible artist. I’m so excited for his new album. And also Linkin Park for when I’m on the treadmill, it’s amazing for getting me pumped. Especially because their songs last about 3 minutes, so I normally burn 30-40 calories then, and I’m like ‘work through it, 30 more calories whoop!’ When I’m cleaning, I love having the Taylor Swift old and new albums on shuffle. She’s so relaxing and catchy :) 

• Tv LOVE - Criminal Minds! It’s so addictive. I get so much work done when I watch this! I started at season one, and I’m now in the middle of Season 6, I have one and a half left. I think I will absolutely be devastated when it ends....

• My skin - From Christmas time, my skin was horrendous! I was working 40 hours a week, barely eating anything healthy, in an air-conditioned environment for 8 hours a day. My skin was so dehydrated, I had patches of acne across my face. So I bought some Liz Earle basics, so I already had her cleanse & polish, toner, exfoliator and moisturising mask. I also had a sample of Benefit’s triple performance moisturiser which is amazing! I’m definitely going to buy it and my skin feels soooo much better. I still have a red area on the side of my face by my right ear, it’s healing up and is just easy to cover with with concealer. So hopefully by next week, it will be gone! 

Ella (Puppy Number One)

Ella has learnt how to open doors... Shock horror. I’ve never been more terrified than when she knocked the handle, and opened my bathroom door and ran in. I’ve never screamed so loud in my life. She was like “mummy look what I did!” Now we can’t keep her out of rooms, which is annoying because she can push doors open...but can’t pull them. SO she gets locked in and cries and we’re searching the house for our missing clever pup! She has also learnt how to bring balls back when we play fetch. She always used to chase them and leave them, now she knows it’s more fun to bring it back with her so we can play again :) 

Lincoln (Puppy Number Two) 

Oh poorly pup! Lincoln was a rescue from Romania, when we got him he had scars and some cuts on his body that we were worried about and when we got to the vets they told us they were fine and would heal. It turns out, he has mites. So the cuts, aka lesions, were caused by the mites and have been irritating him for months. He now is soo sore. He’s gnawed his knee cap to be red raw, it’s now got no fur and he has to wear a cone constantly till it’s healed. Hopefully we’ll have it sorted within the next two weeks, but he’s not very happy! He whines and sleeps all the time, he just wants cuddles! 

I'm not feeling too great today! Linc had to sleep in our room last night and between him kicking me and Russell pushing me into Linc, I had no room & barely slept. I'm so exhausted today, but am going to attempt to do lots of work in the next couple of hours. We're rewarding ourselves for cleaning the house today with an indian tonight! 

Hope you are all having a great weekend :) 

xoxoxo

Help a girl out!

Just a quickie! I want to know if I'm being rational or an absolute crazy lady!

My boyfriend & I live together, have two puppies together, we're best friends, if I'm ridiculously cheesetastic I would say that we are soul mates, but I wont go that far...wait I just did! Our souls were destined to meet and share our material lives together..anyway...

I think it was pretty clear from early on in our relationship that this was the one. I've had long-term relationships before, and I've never felt relaxed. Like "yep, this is it, perfection", which has not been good for my waistline, but there's no need to venture down that road. I've been positive for a long time that he will be my husband, and we've discussed this in detail and thank god he feels the same. Whenever it came up, it was never even an awkward conversation, like "do you think we'll get married?" awkward silence... "umm sure". He would just say 'of course we will, maybe in 3 or 4 years time".

So anyway! I mentioned to him that for my 21st birthday this summer I would like to go to America for a week. I then made a joke to the dogs that 'daddy would be proposing to mummy on a beach on her 21st birthday and make it a completely magical day' to which he dropped a cup and I think we both realised the cat was out of the bag. I now feel absolutely terrible. I keep finding myself looking at engagement rings whilst he's not in the room, then he'll borrow my laptop and mention that 'if I want to let him know the type of ring I'd like, he'd appreciate the help'. I feel like I've ruined the surprise, so if he does propose this year, I'll already see it coming. Which I don't mind at all, but I really think he does. Has anyone got engaged recently? Did you know it was coming? Did he know you knew? Did it matter?!

My friend recently got engaged to her boyfriend and she was completely caught off guard. But she'd been hinting subtly..."I would like to be engaged the same time as my sister...who's engaged now...who's getting married soon..." I feel so guilty! I don't mind knowing as I'm more excited about the marriage aspect, yet I think Russell was really happy about his engagement plan and now I've ruined the surprise!

Ahh, what to do! Help!

University Life - First Year

I was reminiscing today about my first year at University & thought hey write a blog post about that experience! Cheese! I moved to Nottingham for University, since I lived in Birmingham this wasn't far, and I've always been really independent so I didn't miss home too much whilst I was there. My friends who lived 4/5 hours from their hometown felt more wary than me throughout the year - probably because if I did feel overwhelmed by my life at university, I could just hop on the motorway for an hour and I'd be back home, they didn't have this luxury! 

How to sum up my first year at university? Wild. I think that speaks for most people. My birthday is in July, so I only turned 18 2 months before I moved to university. Over the summer time, I worked my booty off and ended up only going out once with my friends to clubs. So when I moved into my halls and they said 'we're going out every night this week' I was like 'whatttttt?' and after 2 nights I was like "Wooooooooooop" - Wildchild. I don't know how it even happened, but I ended up with a signature drink of 'rum - straight up', and I liked it?! Cannot look at a bottle of Bacardi now without feeling disgusted with myself haaaa!

Night out tips? I would say 'drink a glass of water between each alcoholic drink' but thats not going to be likely to be followed through! But yes, Flats! It's university! You can wear cute dolly shoes and still look as good, but not as stupid as someone in 5 inch heels! Plus you can stay out longer with your friends! If youre anything like me, heels are my type of hell. They are beautiful and I love them, but my god they kill my feet after an hour, university clubs are nasty places, very dirty and your beautiful heels will get destroyed, even black ones! Major one, clevage or lot-of-leg, show one not both, you'll look like a whore. JOKE, but it can be a bit OTT if you have a mini skirt on and your boots are wide open for everyone to see. Nice bodycon dresses show off your legs and figure whilst keeping the boobies a secret!

Lectures? Well unfortunately if you've studied your topic for A-Level, it's very tedious, because you're learning a lot of the same topics again, just the lecturers add in more research aka more depth. This is because if e.g. my course, someone didn't study psychology but wanted to do it at university, they would need to be caught up on all the basics of psychology. This may be the same for courses like business, law, criminology. Not all sixth forms/colleges offer these courses at A-Level so the universities have to assume that some people do not know the basics, zzzzzz. Snorefest! I literally lived about 40 minute commute to university, and I can tell you now I would not get out of bed if I knew the lecture was on a topic I knew previously. It was always a waste of time, especially in first year at my university I think they expected no-one to turn up so put all the information of the online learning site. 

Luckily, you only need 40% to pass, and that year I just missed out on a 2:1 but a fraction of 1%. Very irritating, but hey I didn't exactly work hard for it. Thank god I upped my game in second year (post coming). Now I'm striding through my third year like a crazy stressed headless chicken but loving it. 

My one tip? 1st year is designed to be an experience for you. They expect you to party a lot, they expect you to not show up for lectures - workshops? no. turn up, they take attendance. Anything not in a lecture theatre - turn up. So enjoy yourself, obviously when you do have assignments, put in some effort because otherwise there's no point in going! I know someone who has failed first year 3 times because they just party too much. If your life hits that point, stop and think to yourself? Why am I doing this?!?! Plus with cost of university going up in the UK to 9 grand a year, it's a pretty expensive thing to waste away (for your second & third year). SO have fun in your first year, make friends, make mistakes! It's your time to be independent and grow as a person. Then the second September hits, and it's second year, buck up your ideas because these assessments go towards your degree. HOLLA! 

There will be lots of onsie wearing - promise!

You will meet boys, who become your best friends - like brothers!

Coming from a girls school, it was a shocker! 

This became my 'drunk pose' well one of them. "I see you!"

Hope you enjoyed this post :)
xoxoxo

My First Grown Up Purchase & Style Change

Today I realised I am an adult. Sounds very silly, it took me buying a new TV to realise I'm now a member of the real world. I got paid a week ago which I was very happy about, I even bought a few goodies but thought that I'd be sensible and put it aside for the rest of the month - just in case. Then yesterday morning, our TV would not turn on. When my boyfriend and I moved in together, we both had small 22" tvs - perfect for university rooms :). My puppy Ella broke mine, she ripped the cable apart - bad pooch! So we were TV less & we have developed a severe addiction to American Horror Story: Asylum. So severe, we felt a need to go out immediately and buy a new TV. 

MAJOR DEAL ALERT! 43" Samsung Tv for £299? bargain bucket! 

Here's a picture of our angel with the tv, she was very intrigued! Please ignore the disgusting state of our carpet. You wouldn't believe that 2 days ago I was on my hands and knees brushing that thing grrr. This little princess malts like no-ones business! In her early days, I was like "she's perfect, you stroke her and she doesn't lose any fur". I WAS LYING! To myself, in complete denial! It's an absolute nightmare! Anyone else have this problem with pooches? 

Anyway, now tonight we can watch our new show! Very exciting! Yet my personal obsession lately has been criminal minds! Its one of those really good day time shows that seem really cheese-tastic, yet I'm completely addicted. 

Other life changing event!!!! = Blondeness! 

I used to have hair like this aka. Blonde with ginger baby hair ;) SEXY. But being blonde made me very very happy! 

I used to be blonde! Quite blonde - and like every girl I get fed up and change my appearance. Which is always a mistake!!!! Always! My mother repeatedly warns me but I never listen. So this time I tried to dye my hair red, thinking I have ginger baby hairs, it's a sign. Red would look good on me. Red never happened! It just went a muted brown, like a blunt light brown, bleugh. Boring colour and I had ruined my locks. poooh!

 So I decided to leave it for 2 months so the colour really muted down, and then I got highlights. The amount of bleach they have to use meant that my dead ends needed to go, which meant that I have shoulder length hair. It's going to be a new starting point for me! I know what I love now with my hair, a lot of honey toned highlights and now I have an overall dark blonde look going on. It suits my face & makeup is so much easier to match to my skin tone :) I've started using argan oil every time I wash my hair, and trying not to use as much heat on it! I'm very excited to grow my hair like rapunzel! Also I've purchased a whole new skin care routine from Liz Earle! I've always used their cleanse and polish which is amazing! But I've now purchased their toner, exfoliator & moisturising mask -  All of which cheekily on ebay! Liz Earle have an outlet store where you can buy the same products for about £5 cheaper than on their sight because of small issues with packaging, i.e. printing on the bottles. This means that they can't be sold in retail but it's the exact same product inside! Cheeky secret! 2013 has made me so optimistic! Whoop! 

Yes my inspiration was a picture of Taylor Swift in Cosmo, I love her what can I say! Great gal!

:)

Finally! I bought these goodies from Homebase, they are a Christmas range of Yankee Candles, absolutely beautiful! 

One lives in my kitchen and smells of cookies! And the other smells of apples and lives in my living room. My house smells absolutely amazing. I would never buy any other candles besides Yankee! Even though there's a big price tag attached, I've had a large vanilla cupcake one for over a year, and Its only 2/3s used at the moment. 

Hope you all have had a great start to 2013! I know I have :) 

Lola Elizabeth 

xoxoxo

The "This or That" Tag :)

So it's a quiet night, I've done lots of University work today and so I'm lounging about with the puppies and I thought I'd do a tag before I went for a bubble bath :)!

Makeup

Blush or Bronzer?  Bronzer! The only suitable shade I've found is Laguna by Nars & I only wear it subtly to contour my cheek bones. I rarely wear blush for some reason it doesn't look right whenever I apply it! Help!

Lipgloss or Lipstick?  Definitely lipstick, I can't deal with lipgloss they are far too sticky!

Eyeliner or Mascara?  I always wear both but I think that you could leave the house with just mascara and look fabulousness!

Foundation or Concealer? Umm I'd say concealer if I can use tinted moisturiser - I don't wear foundation unless I'm getting dolled up to the nines!

Neutral or Coloured Eyeshadow?  I must prefer neutrals! I try and add colour to smoky eyes but I'm not one to have bright orange eyeshadow on the go. 

Pressed or Loose Eyeshadow? I only have one pigment from MAC, and I love the colour but I get so terrified that I'm going to knock it over, so I rarely use it! 

Brushes or Sponges? Definitely brushes! I adore real techniques brushes, they are amazing :)

Nails

Long or Short?  I have a really bad nail history. When I do try to grow them long, they always end up breaking or snapping off. It's very heartbreaking! So they're short the majority of the time :) they never get past the edge of my fingertips! 

Acrylic or Natural?  I've always been too scared to try acrylic nails! My friend used to use them a lot & they look great, but the pain trying to take them off & the damage it did to her nails eek I couldn't do it to myself!

Brights or Darks?  Definitely dark, I feel like my toes are always some shade of black, but my nails tend to be either dark or glittery :) 

Flower or no Flower?  No flowers fo sho! Been a long time since I played with a nail art gun :)

Body

Perfume or Body Splash?  Perfume, because I have no idea what Body Splash is :D 

Lotion or Body Butter?  Oooh body butter! Especially the cocoa butter one from Body Shop, makes my skin feel very silky smooth!

Body Wash or Soap? Body wash! I can't be dealing with bars of soap in a wet situation.

Fashion

Jeans or Sweat Pants? Ahh jeans for leaving the house, but to be honest I love to be comfortable - sweat pants all the way! 

Long Sleeve or Short?  Ahh well I dislike showing my arms, so never short! Preferably 3/4 lengths but I guess I'll go with long sleeve!

Dresses or Skirts? Dresses! So comfy and pretty :) 

Stripes or Plaid?  Oh plaid definitely! Although I don't think I own anything of both. But! I have a feeling that plaid is coming back in whoop!

Flip Flops or Sandals? Umm sandles, funnily enough I never wear either, hiya freezing Britain! 

Scarves or Hats?  Scarves! I absolutely hate hat hair ugh

Studs or Dangly Earrings?  I always wear pretty studs! I have tried dangly earrings but I always get them caught in my hair and thingys! 

Cowboy Boots or Riding Boots?  Riding boots.

Jacket or Hoodie?  Jacket outside...hoody in the house :) cosy!

Hair

Curly or Straight?  Straight. My hair is naturally straight - I just have to straighten it quickly to de-frizz.

Bun or Ponytail?  I like a doughnut bun when my hair is long but I end up using ponytails far too often!

Bobby Pins or Butterfly Clips? Bobby pins definitely.

Hair Spray or Gel? Hair spray, I havent used gel since I was 11 & I thought it was cool to glue 2 strings of hair down my face - note to self, NOT COOL!

Long or Short?  Definitely long! - Not that I want to be rapunzel or anything, well yes I do!

Light or Dark? Light - Hiya honey blondies

Side-swept Bangs or Full Bangs? Side-swept for definite, especially with my face hahaha

Up or Down? Almost always down, except when I'm at work or want it out of my face.

Random

(just thought I'd sneakily include a really cute picture of Ella when she was a baby! 8 weeks old meep!)

Rain or Shine?  I think I've become used to rain living in England, but I burn really easily in any sunlight...vampire much. So rainy day? MEH :(

Summer or Winter? Winter! 

Fall or Spring? Fall for definite!

Chocolate or Vanilla?  Chocolate! Mmmmm

Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to do this tag yourself :) I have no idea where I found it! 

Lola Elizabeth

xoxoxoxo