Celebrating International Women’s Day

It’s international woman’s day and I feel it’s super important to give it a little bit of acknowledgement. Today is a day to celebrate all things woman from admiring great historical women who changed the world for ever, showing how much you love the woman in your life or even giving each other some extra support and encouragement however you choose to celebrate today make it your own. Do something that makes you feel empowered, strong and amazing. Take a moment out of your day to celebrate the most important thing in the world…YOU!

Empowered women, Empower women

In honour of international women’s day I decided that one of the things I wanted to do today was to take sometime out of the day to sit and reflect about how incredible I am. Now I dont want this to come across big headed or cocky but I think one of the most amazing all be it at times the most difficult thing you can do, is celebrate what you love about yourself and everything that makes you feel amazing inside.

So with that in mind for today’s post I am going to be sharing with you 10 things I want to celebrate about me!

1. I love My sense of Humour, I get it from my dad and grandad and although at times it has got me in trouble, I love it!
2. I adore being a guide leader, I love watching the girls become young women, with their own personalities and big ideas.
3. I am so proud of myself for overcoming a patch of terrible mental health. I feel so much stronger than I ever did and I am sure this is down to this.
4. My passion for my blog can’t be ignored, I am so proud of my achievements and never imagined it would be where is is today. I have worked so hard and it’s definitely starting to shine through!
5. It’s took time but I am starting to feel comfortable being me, don’t get me wrong there are some days where I want to changeable few things but all in all I am happy with what I see in the mirror.
6. I have a plan. I love that I have a plan for the future. I love the way my future is looking to be and can’t wait for it. The future used to scare me a little so now knowing I have a plan makes me feel so much more at ease and now I can’t wait for it all to unravel. Off course I expect for things not to go according to plan but I am ready for those challenges.
7. I enjoy being unique. I am the complete opposite of a “stereotypical” 20 year old, I don’t have huge circles of friends that I go partying weekly with or anything. My social calendar is pretty much non existent and I love that. I feel so happy that I can devote all my time to guiding,work,blogging and Liam. This suits me so much and I love it, I am so content and happy with how this has all happened for me.
8. Becoming the “perfect housewife” has always been something I long to achieve. And I am finally getting there. Although me and Liam both work, he works much longer shifts than me and hardly has days off. That’s why I have took on the role of the cleaning and cooking and life organising. I love doing this and I love how hard I work to become the best I possibly can be.
9. I love how I get excited over everything and anything. I find excitement in my everyday life and This always makes me so happy. Find excitement in everything you do was something I read a few years ago and it stuck and once you start doing it it’s catching and you can’t stop!
10. Watching Liam’s nieces and nephew grow up has been such an honour and to be part of their life is amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Spending time with them is so precious to me and hearing them laugh makes the tough days I go through disappear. They bring me such joy and they always encourage me to see the positive in everything. They have helped me smile on even the hardest of days and for that I will forever be grateful. They have taught me so much and have definitely shaped who I am today.

Okay I know number 10 wasn’t exactly something I love about myself but it felt kind of fitting to include it. I would love for you to comment something’s you want to celebrate about yourself or how you are celebrating international women’s day. I Would love the comments to be a sea filled with so much self love!

Cheerio For Now,

Fern xx

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Achieving Happiness

My Happiness Guide

Achieving Happiness

Hello! My name is Yasmin, I’m a university student and a fellow blogger and the amazing Fernie kindly asked me to guest post on her blog! This is a lovely opportunity, and I’m very excited about this post! I will be talking about one of the hardest journeys most of us face in our lives, reaching a point where we can truly say we love ourselves, inside and out.

I will be sharing some tips I believe can truly help you reach a place of self happiness, whatever that means to you…

#1 Do one nice thing for yourself daily – This could be taking a walk, making your favourite drink, or allowing yourself half an hour to indulge in a good book. Whatever it is, do it and don’t feel guilty about it! We must treat ourselves well, we work so hard sometimes we just need a break.

#2 Forgiveness – This can be difficult, but moving on from your mistakes and viewing them as a learning curve and not just a complete disaster can be a huge help.

#3 Stop comparing yourself – Comparing your looks, traits, strengths, and weaknesses to other people’s will not help you feel better about yourself. Our uniqueness is what makes us different from all those people, and why all your friends and family love you.

#4 Cut toxic habits and relationships – People and activities that bring you down do nothing for your self love. Cut the people and things from your life that don’t bring you joy, happiness and peace.

#5 Self care ritual – It’s so important we slow down every now and then to take time for ourselves to relax. I love to have a shower, put on a face mask and paint my nails and toes as my little self care routine, it really does help you feel great about yourself!

#6 Notice the beauty around you – Take a moment the next time you step outside your door and appreciate all the beautiful things that surround you. There is beauty everywhere, and loving your environment and surroundings can help you learn to love yourself.

#7 Track your success – Keeping track of all the things you accomplish can be a great way to show yourself that yes, you can do things and you are amazing! It’s a great little book to keep and look back on when you’re not feeling too brilliant, it helps to reiterate all the reasons you’re needed and appreciated.

#8 Meditation – Regularly practising meditation can be immensely helpful. It helps you destress and be happy with yourself. There are plenty of free youtube videos demonstrating guided meditation practises, why not give one a try!

#9 Exercise in a way you enjoy – We all know the benefits regularly exercising can bring, but it doesn’t have to be a painful process you dread every day. Find a form of exercise you enjoy. This could be running, yoga, the gym, a team/individual sport, or even dancing! Find something that suits your mindset and your body will thank you!

#10 Get out there and own the world! – Enjoy your life, accept your mistakes and move on to a brighter place, live in appreciation of all the good people and things that surround you, focus on the positive, don’t neglect yourself and most importantly, love who you are!

I hope you enjoyed this post, and thanks again to Fernie for giving me the opportunity to write it! Lots of love to everyone!

Here are some of my links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itstheblondelife/

My blog: https://itstheblondelife.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblondelifex

 

A Christmas Poem

Today I have felt ever so poorly, I came home from guide camp then I felt awful. I was then sent home from work, so today’s post will have to be a little one I’m afraid. Unfortunately I don’t have time to write what I ordiginally have planned so today I thought I would share with you this lovely poem I found and now love….

Our Christmas tree, stood straight and tall, We had it standing in the hall, With decorations, sparkling bright, And baubles, glittering in the light, Rich tinsel laced around branches wide, With bells and bows, that could be spied Hiding among the dark green pine, In silver and gold, boldly they did shine, And at the very top, such a wondrous sight, A star was placed there, which gave delight. The whole effect so pleasured the eye. We planted it outside, now it’s 18 feet high. This year it will once again, be a thrill, Hung with big coloured lights, in the crisp winter chill

This poem was written by the poet Ernestine Northover on the 25th March 1943. I love it and it really makes me feel festive and cosy! 

Hope you like this poem as much as I do, sorry it’s only a little post but fingers crossed I’ll be back to normal tomorow! 

Cheerio For Now,

Fern xx

Liam’s Christmas List

For todays post, I thought I would do something slightly different and special, by now you must all be so fed up with all my posts, so today we are mixing it up. Today my partner Liam is taking over my blog and is guest writing for me. He is going to be telling you all about his favourite things about the Christmas season.

hope you enjoy and be kind to him haha!

Cheerio For Now,

Fern xx

 

Hi its Liam, here is a list of my favourite things to do with Christmas! 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

1. Snow Days

Due to current weather in England, it has reminded me how much snow makes everything seem much more festive, we don’t get it very often, maybe once every 2 years if we are lucky but it changes the whole atmosphere, at least for a few days. Walking through town to see the snow covering the roads and paths, people out helping others stuck in the snow. It empathises on the word community, everyone working together to help others in need and that’s what I feel like Christmas is all about!

2. Food

I am a big fan of food, anything and everything, I will most likely eat and I also seem to be blessed of not putting any weight on no matter how much I eat which is a bonus. My favourite Christmas food has to be Pigs in Blankets, I could literally eat an entire plate of them! Whoever thought of simply wrapping sausage with bacon is a genius!

3. Spending time with Family

As me and Fern are now moved out and we are going to my parents for Christmas morning and her parents for Christmas evening. Spending time with family around the Christmas holiday and especially Christmas day, is one thing that I could not live without, everyone happy, spending time with each other, opening presents and having a big laugh, just what family’s should be doing on Christmas!

4. Christmas Films

When me and Fern are both off from Work, its nice to just sit down and relax while watching a film, one of my favourite Christmas films is obviously Elf, which has to be on everyone’s list and of course Home Alone, which coming to realise while writing this, I am yet to watch this Christmas, must add it to the list before Christmas finishes!

5. Presents

Wrapping presents has to be one of the most iconic Christmas things to do, simple boxes which take less than a minute to wrap and then everyone’s favourite, the annoying triangle or cylinder shape present which takes a life time to wrap. Luckily Fern is good at wrapping so ill just stick to the nice and easy ones while she handles the annoying ones 🙂

 

Well this has been my little list of what Christmas means to me, just the little things which all add up to make Christmas one of the best times of the year!

Hope you’ve enjoyed and ill see you again soon!

Bye, Liam.

 

A Selfless Christmas

Christmas is a super busy and joyous time of year however for some people this is not always the case, This year is a super busy Christmas however I still wanted to ensure I helped as many people as possible and give as many people as possible a very merry Christmas or at least contribute to it. That why I have decided to have a selfless Christmas.

After lots of thinking and hundreds of ideas I have narrowed it down to five, It was so hard just picking five however i just personally do not have the time or money to do it all.However my theory is that if everyone in the world does just five selfless things this Christmas we could make a MASSIVE impact on so many lives.

I really urge you to think of five selfless acts that you could do this season and I would love to hear what you have been getting up to, we really could make such a difference this Christmas and what a wonderful things that is to do.

below I have explained the five things I am going to do this Christmas, I hope I have inspired someone to do the same as me, lets spread some Christmas cheer!

I have decided that every time I do my weekly food shop from now till Christmas I shall buy three extra items and donate it to my local food banks. In my local coop and Sainsburys there is a huge bin that the items can be donated too so this its so easy to donate. maybe your local shops do this too? as I am writing this I know there is 5 more shopping trips till Christmas so that is at least 15 items of food I will be donating. Imagine if we all did that?

In addition to that I will also be using the donation boxes that are on our tills in our local shops. In our town there is always donation buckets by the tills, from now on I will be donating all my change every time I shop, to one of these buckets. Over time all my change will add up and can be used to help so many other people. I am going to be encouraging everyone I know to do the same to. after all…

look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves

Keeping with the donating theme, My local coop is organising a toy collection to help children in our local area that are living in poverty and are likely not to receive a present this Christmas. I will be purchasing a toy brand new and donating it to them. I am sure there is so many projects like this around, especially this time of year, maybe you could donate a toy too?

I work in retail and this is such a massively busy time for us, its often easy to lose the Christmas cheer as its super stressful. this year I am going to bake lots of yummy Christmas treats and take them into work for the staff to munch on during their breaks, I hope this will lift everyone’s mood and bring back some festive fun into this busy time.

Finally I am going to write and send letters of appreciation to friends and family. I hope that these little letters and cards will put a smile of everyone face and I hope to inspire other people to do the same. if we all wrote one letter and they wrote one and so on and so on, there could be so many happy people in the world and knowing that makes me feel amazing!

So those are my very small way I am having a selfless Christmas, and I really hope I have inspired you to do the same!

Cheerio for now,

Fern xx

 

Holiday Diary 2017 Part Two

Here is part two of my holiday diary, if you haven’t already make sure you have a little read of part one to help you get up to speed with whats been going on. Long story short me and Liam went away for a winter woodland break and I wanted to share our adventures with you, If you wanted to be nosy and have a look at our accommodation click the link here and it will take you to our cabin tour. Tomorrow at 11am I will be uploading my holiday look book so if that your cup of tea set your alarms for that. Righty That should be you all caught up with whats going on, here goes….

Day Four

After all the excitement from yesterday we both decided we wanted another chill out relaxing at the lodge, Especially as this was our last day, Time had gone so quickly but I started to miss our flat back home. In the morning Liam went to the gym and I went swimming, it was lovely to spend a little bit of time apart I loved having the space to clear my mind of everything and just focus on me at the moment in time. I was the only one in the pool at it was amazing. I spent some time thinking about my blog plans for the future and took some time to just breath and be in my own space.

After my swim I felt refreshed and excited to see Liam. We then as planned spent the afternoon and evening dancing round the cabin to top 40 countdowns, reading books, laughing and watching rubbish TV. As much as I love busy days visiting places, days like these are my favorite. In the cabin we was in our own little bubble where nothing else mattered and we didn’t have to think of any one else. I loved it and that’s something I want to recreate more.

We ended the day by having one last meal in the restaurant. We both decided to go for the gammon steak a choice neither of us regretted it was by far the best gammon steak we had ever eaten. finished with ice cream sundaes. we were full and ready to head back to the cabin to pack our bags and have one final dip in the hot tub.

Day Five

Our last morning in the cabin and it was an early one! I was tired before all the traveling had begun and worst of all. I cam on my shitting period haha! I was grumpy and stroppy. I felt sorry for Liam I was like a dragon that was ready to explode. Things were not looking good for our day of travelling. However I put on my big girl knickers (Literally) sucked it up and wore a smile on my face, lets do this. We got are suitcases together our big coats on and we said goodbye to oak cabin two, although sad I was looking forward to getting into my own bed in my own space. even more so now I was cramping like a good`un. We headed back into Cromer and had a wonder around Morrison’s and had a huge lunch, Liam went all out with a breakfast and I had a scrumptious macaroni cheese. we had some time to kill before our train so we stayed in the café and I did some blog planning, while Liam made use of the customer free WiFi. Our journey home was nice and easy, no trains delayed and everything was plain sailing, exactly how I like it. At around 4pm we opened the door to our home for a cup of hot earl grey tea.

 

 

So that​s the end of our holiday, I hope you have enjoyed having a look at what we got up to? I would to hear about any holidays you have been on recently! let me know. Don`t forget that tomorrow will be a holiday look book for you to have a look at.

Cheerio For Now,

Fern xx