So if I write it down I'm more likely to do it, right?
I hope so. I'm just sick of feeling this way & I need to change.
Eat right and exercise more, its a simple as that they all say. Hmm well somehow I don't think its going to be that easy, but if it was easy everyone would do it.
So I've decided I'm turning my life around!
I have a huge pile of gym clothes, that lets be honest with myself I just wear around the house, and haven't seen the inside of a gym in a long time.
My local gym is closing down, but thats no excuse to quit working out. So I've developed a new plan.
... Morning jogs!
I used to go running every morning last year, but since christmas I've been terribly slacking and its showing. I need to sort myself out and quit eating carbs.
So tomorrow morning I have a few errands to run but once I'm done I WILL go for my first run in god knows how long, and I wont reward myself with chocolate or 'healthy' snacks! NO!
WATER, WATER, WATER!
I will drink plenty of water every day, it good for my skin and to keep myself from becoming dehydrated.
Food wise:
I have always watched what I ate, and would buy those healthy breakfast biscuits or crackers to eat. Its only now that I've realised how unhealthy those so called 'healthy' snacks are. So tomorrow I will be taking a trip to my local green grocers and picking up some:
- Grapefruit
- Apples
- Kiwi
- Melon
- Oranges
- Pomegranates
- Bananas
- Grapes
No more carbs for me!
I made a promise with myself and I will stick to this promise!
So wish me luck on this new adventure my life will take, its for the best and in 3 months time I WILL be a new person!
I havent done a DIY in a while, and seeing as its flu season right now, these DIY vicks shower disks are just the remedy for a healthy recovery.
You will need:
Baking soda
Water
Vicks
muffin pan & liners
Lets get started:
Add 1/2 tub (1-2 cups) of baking soda to a bowl & add enough water to make a thick paste.
Next add 1/2 tub of vicks and stir together
Put a dollop of the mixture into each muffin liner
Leave to set overnight 12-18 hours
Pop out from the muffin tray and plop in the bottom of your shower.
Let the vapours do there work and vwolla! your sinuses are clear !
Video will be coming soon!
Thanks for reading,
See you next time,
Rachel Ward.
So, I am determined to eat right and keep eating right and what better way than a smoothie to kick start my day. Not one of those store bought ones that are full of additives and other nasties of course, but I have started to make my own, and believe it or not its actually cheaper and 100% healthier.
The smoothie I will be sharing with you today is my Banana and pineapple smoothie, and yep you've guessed it its got bananas and pineapples in it ! So without further adoo here it is:
Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 can pineapple with juice
1/2 cup yogurt (any flavour, I usually use vanilla)
Method:
Combine all these ingredients in a blender and blend! Hey presto you've make your own smoothie!
...and of course I have made a little recipe video for you :)
Thanks for spending your time to reading this little blog of mine,
So I finally did it and I feel happier and less stressed, my anxiety levels have dramatically decreased and I can now focus on what really matters in life.
I dont know if I mentioned this before but I work nightshifts in Sainsburys from 11pm till 7am three nights a week and combine that with Uni I really didn't divide it out to well. I wasn't attending uni as much as I should have been because I was tired all the time, and when I did go I was half asleep in lectures. With exam and essays deadlines closely approaching I decided my best option was to focus solely on my university work and my best option was to quit work and get on with my mountain of assignments.
About two weeks ago was when I first decided to quit and it really was a daunting experience to tell my manager what my plans were. First I didn't know how to tell him, and second I didn't know how he was going to react. I couldn't sleep for days with worry and I was becoming more and more increasingly anxious. This weight on my shoulders was becoming more and more heavy and I just had to grab the bull by the horns and do it. I told my mum my worries and she said something which strangely made me a little more relaxed about the situation (well as relaxed as I could be), she said
'Your just a number to them'
and although it doesn't really mean a lot it actually made me less scared to tell him I was quitting, but still not calm enough to stop worrying.
It was Saturday and my shift was closely approaching, it was today that I planned to get it over and done with so that I could have a clear mind. I decided I would go in and straight away tell my manager what i was planning to do, but when I say him I became increasing more anxious and he could probably tell from the look on my face that I was worried about something and when he asked me was I ok, instead of me saying no and telling him I wanted to quit to focus on uni, I said 'yeah, I'm fine thanks'. I was so annoyed with myself, why couldn't I just speak up!
As the night went on, I played over in my head what I was going to say, and imagined different scenarios and how I could deal with it, but this made me more scared and soon that worry turned into terror. I don't know what I react like this, but i really hate this feeling. I eventually decided to tell him when my shift was over. The night dragged on and the 8hour shift seemed more like a 16hour shift it went on for so long. Eventually it was 7am and I went to the cloakroom to get my stuff, as I was coming down the stairs my heart was beating really fast, and my mind was racing. It was now or never and If I didn't do it know I would hate myself for it!
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, my manager was approaching me and Before he could say anything I just blurted it out, I had to, it was the only way. I told him I had to quit to focus on uni, and that Im becoming more and more worried about failing my degree. I told him that if I don't quit I fear failing university and I need to focus on my future. He seemed a little taken back but said that If I wanted to quit then I had to hand in my 1weeks notice, He seemed to understand though, and as I was walking away I began to wonder why I worked myself up so much for something that wasn't a big deal to begin with. I guess I really do make mountains out of molehills, i'm defiantly going to work on this, and this whole experience has taught me to not worry as much as I do because really theres no point in worrying it just makes things a whole lot worse than they actually are.
So I handed in my notice, and now have two shifts left. I feel so much more happier about myself and although I still have other concerns to deal with such as 'How the hell am I going to complete all this coursework in time', I no longer have to restricted time constrains to do it in, and can focus my entire attention to it.
I feel so much better now I've let all that out of my system.
So theres this tag going about on Youtube, and usually I don't really do tags, but this one I thought would be a good way for my viewers to get to know me a little better. So I sat down with my camera and recorded my very first tag! It was a lot of fun and you may now find me doing a few more of them in the future. However once I had recorded, edited and uploaded it I began to realise that there were more and more facts about myself that I completely forgot to mention, so instead of deleting it and making a new one (because I was quite pleased with how that one turned) I would instead let you know much more about me via my blog! sounds like a plan. So I will also post the original video at the end it you want to watch that I would be ever so grateful :)
I guess I'll start of with the facts I mentioned in the video, and then let you know about everything else.
Fact 1) I am left handed
Fact 2) I love the TV show Friends
Fact 3) My favorite characters are phoebe and joey
Fact 4) I have never broken a bone
Fact 5) My favourite season is winter
Fact 6) I Love the smell of coffee
Fact 7) But I don't like drinking it
Fact 8) I failed my driving test twice
Fact 9) Im a donor
Fact 10) I over thing EVERYTHING,
Fact 11) I have really bad anxiety
Fact 12) I love Food Network!
Fact 13) I spent summer of 2012 working in America at a summer camp
Fact 14) I love organising,
Fact 15) de cluttering and
Fact 16) Cleaning !!!!
Fact 17) I moved around a lot when I was a child
Fact 18) Im a cereal addict
Fact 19) The first game I ever completed was Super Mario! woohooo!
Fact 20) I collect everything.
Fact 21) I hate the number 4
Fact 22) The first series of books I ever read were Harry Potter
Fact 23) I love to read cookbooks, but rarely every follow the recipes in them
Fact 24) Im a bargain Hunter!
Fact 25) I love DIY!
So those were the facts I mentioned Im my video, but here are the extras for you special readers who come here too!
* I split my lip in have when I was 8 and had to go to A&E, I was crying because my new clothes were covered in blood and not because half my lip was hanging off (ewww). I still have a scar on my lip, its barely noticeable though!
* I had my appendix removed when I was 14. I have a scar from that too!
* I was an only child until I was 12, then my mum had a little baby girl and I became a big sister! She's 8 now and called Holly.
* I got a A* in Psychology in college, its the only A* I have ever got and I am so proud of that star :)
* I have a fear of mobile phones, well answering them mostly I cant answer a phone or talk calmly on the phone, even if its a person I know, I will get a sweaty and clammy and my heart starts to beat really fast :(
* I'm currently in my 2nd year at university studying Criminology, but the funny thing is I hate and and don't want to do anything In this field when I leave. I honestly don't know why I am there.
* I'm taking a gap year after uni (so 2014) and going to Australia for a year to work and hopefully find out what I actually want to do with my life! preferably meet a hunky Australian surfer ;)
* I love running, but people do say I run like Phoebe from Friends hahaha, oh well I enjoy it and thats all that counts, doesn't matter if I'm not the best.
* I am the worst singer ever, But I wish I could sing, and to be honest it doesn't stop me trying, my neighbours probably want to tear there ears out !
* I also have two guitars, and can plan a few chords but never really learned to play properly. Right now there just a decoration!
* I want to learn to surf! so bad! Hopefully I will this year and on my travels :)
So thats it, if you have any questions you want me to answer, just leave me a comment and I will be sure to answer it for you :) I hope you enjoyed reading those and maybe you can relate to some of them, if so let me know !
Heres the video for you guys who want to watch it:
Hi! So a couple of months ago I was deciding what to do with my summer this year, and there was only one thing that jumped right out at me and that my dear friends was to go on a trek across the good ol' USA!
So I got onto google and searched pages and pages of different companies and organisations offering different treks and deals but something about this company stood right out. Firstly it was safe I knew that because it was recommended by Camp America, which is a very trusted organisation, so I knew I wouldn't be the victim of fraud. Secondly the website was so welcoming and easy to navigate, I knew where to look and what to look for there were various options to choose from and the lists of treks available were extravanget. Starting from a 4 day trek leading right up to a 64 day trek they had something for everyone which I found very intriguing.
I knew I wanted to go away for a long period of time and so started to look into treks which lasted a month or longer, then write down a list of all the places I wanted to visit and found a few treks that seemed perfect. Now the only thing I had to do was pick one, and this was actually the hardest decision I had to make.
Heres the list of treks I had shortlisted:
1. Trailblazer - 64 day trek
2. Coast To Coast South - 35 day trek
3. Americana Road Trip - 28 day trek
After much deliberation and scribbling things down I came to my final decision, and that was the Coast to coast south trek. I at first was set on the Trailblazer but It was rather more expensive and although I would have been able to afford it i would Rather do the 35 day Trek and not have to worry about money issues and weather or not I would be able to afford to do many of the activities that were on offer. You see I want to go there and do as much as i possibly can without having to hold back because I cannot afford it. So that is what sold me on the Coast to coast south trek.
Ok, so lets go into more detail about the trek itself:
Heres what the website tells us:
Tour Overview
Experience everything from the down-home charm of the deep South to the canyons and national parks of the desert Southwest, from the beaches and attractions of Florida in the East to the nightlife and wildlife of the West. Discover the South and Southwest, up-close and personal, while traversing seventeen states.
Included Highlights: Evening illumination visit to Washington DC monuments
New Orleans' Bourbon Street
San Antonio's Riverwalk
Alien spotting in Roswell
Scenic walks and hikes
Sightseeing in Charleston, St. Augustine, Miami, Florida Keys, Santa Fe and San Diego
National parks and monuments - Carlsbad Caverns, Mesa Verde, Arches, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion
I have also took a screenshot of the price list for 2013 if anyone is interested in the price of this trek:
Bear in mind this trek does not include flights, but flights can be booked with the Trek America company (which is what I did) And to be honest the flights were pretty reasonable, for a return flight from London - Newark, then from LAX - London it was aprox £700 for June, This was booked with Trek America but the flight comany was British Airways.
So I now, have my trek and flights booked and all I need now is to get organised with packing and essential bits and bobs.
I recorded a video if anyone is interested in watching that It explains things in a little more depth:
Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or queries just let me know and I will be more than happy to answer them!
I know i've neglected this blog for what seems like months, but i'm back with a vengeance and ready to roll! So I dont even remeber where I left off, but it was some time before chirstmas so lets start from then. A few things have changed since I last updated this blog and i'd like to talk about them. Firstly in October 2012, (I know it seems like along time ago) I got a new job, now when I say new what I really mean is I got A job. Don't me wrong I have had jobs before but they were all temporary or summer jobs, and this was my first consistent job. It's a part time night shift supermarket stacking shelves sort of job at a well known british supermarket called Sainsburys. And At first I was over the moon, loved it in fact! Had my own income and sense of responsibility, but soon the night shifts began to take there toll, and I am also on a full time university course so my attendance and grades were slowly slipping which is never a good thing. I began to resent the place and went into a state of mild depression whenever I knew I was working that night, I became unsociable and just blocked everyone out, I just felt like I was a slave to the supermarket and no matter how hard I worked it was never good enough. I was there for 5 months and realised I had holidays to take so thought it would be a good idea to just remove myself from there for a while and take a break. So that leads me to now, I took three weeks holiday pay and I return on Saturday night which I am not looking forward to, and I know everyone hates there jobs but for me its just unbearable I cant study for uni, I have no social life and never see anyone. My shifts are ridiculas too I work Sat, Sun and Tuesday 11pm - 7am! Yeah its only 3 nights a week but because its nights it screws with my head and I sleep all day the following day so I basically have no weekend or mon, tue or wednesday. Like I said I'm also juggling uni on top of that Three days a week, and these next few months I have what seems like a heap load of essays, coursework and exams to study for which by the way I don't have a clue what there about (Majorly worried)! I think my best option is to quit work and focus solely on my uni degree, because at the end of the day education is more important than a part time job stacking shelves, its not like I want to do that for the rest of my life. NO WAY! I just get really worked up and stressed when it comes to confrontation and I dont know how to tell my managers I want to quit, as ive only been there for around 6months now. Any Advice?
