Cute Outfits And New Purchases.

Hello my loves, I hope you’re having a fabulous July so far! This month I finally got my last few assignments signed off for my level 4 in digital marketing which I’ve been looking forward to for what feels like the longest time. And now that my college work is all finished, I’ve got something new to look forward to – a trip away at the beginning of August! So, to prep for my little trip away next month I started having a think about all of the cute outfits I could bring along with me; which brings me to today post, some of my current favourite outfits and new purchases!

Over the last year and a half I’ve expanded my wardrobe and style so so much and that’s because I finally found the most essential item you need in your wardrobe..

CONFIDENCE!!

It sounds cheesy I know, but it’s true, having confidence and feeling great makes anything look good. Just over a year ago I was so self-conscious about how I looked and continually put my body down, and since then I’ve been on a huge self-love journey and I’m happy to say that 9 days out of 10 I have a good body love day, and on the day that I’m not feeling as great about my body as usual, I still accept my body and thank it for what it does for me.

So, now that you know that confidence is the best item in your wardrobe, here’s some cute outfits that I love to wear that I wouldn’t dream of wearing before! A lot of my favourite crop tops are from Shein because your girl is on a budget, but I’ve also got some really cute trousers and other pieces from sustainable brands like Lucy and Yak.

(Just an FYI – I’m not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned in this post but I’ve included the links to each item so you can find them easily if you wanted to get yourself any of the pieces below!)

First up we’ve got some super cute crop tops from Shein. The first four pictured are a similar shape which I found comfy and surprisingly supportive for bigger chested people (I’m an E cup for reference in case you’re wanting to pick any of these tops up) and then the two gingham tops are backless – strappy back tops which are very supportive because you can adjust the straps as you wish.

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Next up we’ve got some more crop tops from Shein and two from Pretty Little Thing, the first four are Shein and the last two are Pretty Little Thing. The Shein ones are just super comfy and crop tops paired with comfy high waisted jeans and trousers are now an everyday go-to for me, and the other two are super cute for dressing up or down. I especially love the blue and white corset top because it looks so nice tucked into my jeans and gives you a really nice shape whilst still being super comfy to wear so it’s great for going out to drinks and dinner because it’s still comfy after you’ve eaten!

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You know when you love a print so much that you want everything in it? Yeah, that’s how I felt when I saw this green spongebob-esk print so naturally I got it in 3 different tops! Each one is so cute and makes me feel fab everytime I wear them. (These are also Shein!).

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Onto dresses! If you know me well, you know I’m not really a dress kind of gal, mainly because I always feel like I’m going to flash everyone and I struggle to find ones that I like on me due to being petite (length is usually an issue), but after buying these on a whim to continue getting out of my comfort zone I found that the different shapes and lengths these dresses are look great on! The first two are Shein and the last one is Pretty Little Thing. My personal favourite out of these three is the second one because it’s extremely supportive for big chests and is fitted in all the right places, oh and it’s lined!!

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Next up we’ve got my collection of gorgeous trousers and dungarees from Lucy and Yak! They are one of my all time favourite clothing brands because not only do all their clothes fit and feel super comfortable, they’re also a smaller business who are all about sustainable clothing! And do I even need to mention how beautiful their prints are?!? And also if you were wondering, the blue mom jeans featured in my other outfits are also from Lucy and Yak and they are the comfiest best fitting jeans I’ve every bought – they’re actually high waisted rather than high rise so they sit at just the right place. The clothes are a bit pricier than other brands but 1000% worth it in my mind!

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Finally we’ve got some cycle shorts and tee’s combos! I always though I couldn’t pull off the cute bike shorts and tee combos, but after debating it I bought some and now I’ve managed to gather a collection of around 8 pairs of cute patterned/coloured shorts with tee’s that look really cute with them (they’re currently in the wash but I’ve got a blue gingham pair, lilac gingham pair, black and white checked pair, pink pair, two black pairs and the two shown below). My personal favourite of these is the green gingham outfit because it’s just so cute! All of my cycle short outfits make me feel so badass and as a bonus they’re incredibly comfy!! Plus these are perfect for these really hot days where you just want to be comfy. And plus plus, you don’t get chub rub with cycle shorts!! (The Bambi tee is H&M, the green gingham shorts and cherry shorts are Asos and the Coca Cola tee is Primark!).

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And that’s all of my cute outfits that I’ve got to show you for today! Maybe in a future post I’ll give you a rundown of all the cute outfits I decide to take with me on my upcoming trip away so you can see how I plan on packing for a week away in the UK during Summer (I’m pretty much 100% sure I’ll be over-packing so it’ll be interesting to see if I can keep my packing light!).

What’s your favourite piece or outfit from today’s post? Let me know in the comments below!

And remember, it doesn’t really matter what you’re wearing as long as you feel good. Your opinion about yourself is what matters, so go out, treat the world as your runway and wear what makes you feel good.

Have a fab day my lovelies!

Love,

Summer Decluttering.

Happy Saturday my lovelies! I hope you’ve had a great week and a lovely pride month so far. June has been a really busy month for me, for a range of reasons, one being that I finally got myself a new car, work has been crazy busy, I’ve been going out more and because I had to do a complete overhaul on my tiny bedroom.

Which brings me onto what today’s post is, why I had to declutter my room, how I did it and what my room looks like now!

So, why did I end up decluttering my bedroom?

Well, let me take you back to about 3 weeks ago.. I woke up to find a teeny tiny bug on my phone, and at the time I thought nothing of it because it’s summer and I’d had my window open a fair bit and I also have a lot of indoor plants so I know every now and again you can get a bug or two.

Fast forward to about two days later and I’m finding the little buggers everywhere. So, I looked up what they were and it turns out they were carpet bugs!! Sadly they can come in through the window, through indoor plant soil and a few other ways. I’m not 100% sure how they got into my room but I’m guessing it’s probably through my window.

After finding the bugs I took the day off work and decided to do a deep clean because there wasn’t a chance I was going to be able to stay in my room without feeling like I’m being crawled over and eaten alive haha. I cannot stand bugs. So, I decided to begin the deep clean and declutter of my room by throwing away all of my bedding (I needed to get some new pillows, a duvet and bedding set anyway) because the bugs can live in them, I then got one of those shake n’ vac carpet and fabric cleaners and cleaned my mattress so I could then move that into another room and begin clearing everything else out!

Skipping to after clearing the majority of my furniture out of my room after being scrubbed down and cleaned, I then started my decluttering process. My strategy for the decluttering process was kind of like Marie Kondo on steroids, I kind of went by the below sorting tree and was pretty ruthless:

You can download it here!

In the end I threw away and donated about 70% of what I owned, and that was mostly because I didn’t even realise I owned that amount of stuff. You see, a big part of my OCD is hoarding, so without always realising it I had collected a huge amount of stuff that I didn’t need. I can’t stop myself from buying everything related a new passion or hobby; and then I’ll move onto a new one and then completely forget I bought a load of stuff. I also struggle with object permanence when I need certain things and end up rebuying stuff all the time, a perfect example of this is that I own around 7 of the exact same black t-shirts because I keep forgetting I own them.

Anyway, back to what happened after moving all my furniture out and getting rid of a load of stuff. I started to deep clean my carpets and areas where carpet bugs can live, and whilst doing this I found the nest of them, which wasn’t actually any of the places where I had deep cleaned.. they had had about 100 babies in the corner of the ceiling in my room!! So the horrible thing was that they had been slowly making their way across my ceiling and falling down on everything. It still gives me the heeby-jeebies. Well, after finding that and getting rid of those the drama still wasn’t over.. because a bird decided to fly into my room and go absolutely nuts. Now, it was then that I realised that I have a fear of birds and proceeded to run as fast as I could out of my room at which point my incredible mum spent the next hour trying to get this little bird out of my room because it kept missing the window out and getting stuck around some of the furniture I had moved back in. Luckily she managed to get it out and it was completely unharmed in the end.

So, with the bird gone, bugs gone and any form or dust and dirt gone I finished moving everything back into my room. I picked up some new pillows, a new duvet, bedding set and got rid of my curtains for a cute bamboo blind (I love waking up to natural light so this is perfect for me). And I have to say, now that I’ve gotten rid of a huge amount of possessions (I kept mostly art supplies because I can’t bare to part with them) I feel absolutely amazing and refreshed; not to mention that my room looks so much bigger and lighter. Along with my room looking better, I also think it’s helped get rid of some stress that I hadn’t realised had built up from my surroundings.

Now that you’ve heard about how my room used to be (fortunately and unfortunately I haven’t got any before pictures because I forgot to take any), here’s what it looks like now!

It’s still kind of funny to me that in the span on 2-3 photos you can see my entire bedroom, the only thing I’ve not got a photo of is my desk, but that’s just a standard desk, nothing too pretty or exciting about that. My top three favourite things about my bedroom now are how airy it feels (I think having nothing above my wardrobe helps with that a lot), my new blinds that also open up the room a lot more than my curtains did and finally my new bedding because not only is it cute and light, but it’s also super soft and comfy. Now that I’ve deep cleaned and decluttered I feel like it’s a refresh and restart and I fully intend to keep my room this way in the future.

When was the last time you decluttered? How did it make you feel afterwards? Let me know in the comments!

And with that, I will leave all you lovely people with a photo of a very cute purchase I made last week, a plant pal called Mabel from Ocean Hughes which now lives with Barry – my bonsai tree!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and pride month my lovelies!

Love,

Pride Month Movie Watchlist.

Hello my lovelies! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!! This month will be my second pride month since coming out and so far it’s been a month of fun, love and learning. So, since it’s pride, I thought I’d share with you 10 LGBTQIA+ movies you should put on your watchlist for this month (even though every month is a good month to support gay and queer media).

Before we get started, here’s a pair of very cute trousers that I picked up at Lucy and Yaks which are perfect for pride and are incredibly comfy! Bonus points because they’re a small business who are all about sustainable clothing that’s unique and comfy!

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Now that you’ve seen one of my cute pride photos, let’s get into some movies you should watch! I’ve added in all of their trailers so I’ll leave the descriptions short and sweet for you!

In no particular order:

Pride

Pride is one of my favourite comfort movies, it’s based on the true story about the UK gay activists who worked to help the miners who were in strike in 1984. It’s a feel good movie about a part of the LGBTQIA+ and uk history, and it has a load of actors you’ll recognise in it!

Disclosure

This is such an important film for a range of reasons. The main one being that it takes an in-depth look at the representation of the transgender community and the impact of their stories on transgender lives in American culture. It’s a must watch for everyone in my opinion!

Kinky Boots

Another movie based on a true story! This one I usually watch near Christmas for some reason, maybe its just because it’s always on telly at that time of year; this movie is the story of a men’s footwear factory in Northamptonshire that was struggling and turned to making ‘kinky boots’ after they gained a new creative consultant in the form of a drag queen.

Billy Elliot

This movie is also usually shown around Christmas time, it must be something about the festive season that gets all the feel good movies out on the telly again. I’d be surprised if you didn’t know about Billy Elliot, but in case you don’t, it’s a story of a young boy who decides to swap his boxing lessons for dance after finds a passion for ballet. It’s a story all about challenging toxic masculinity and stereotypes.

Bohemian Rhapsody

I debated putting this one on here, and I think it’s because people don’t really associate this film with being a part of the LGBTQIA+ genre, but it’s a movie that is filled with such great music and although it has mixed reviews, it’s still a good time when watched with friends and singing at the top of your lungs!

Prom

Prom is a new release from Netflix, and I wanted to mention it on here because it made me laugh, made me cry and was an easy watch, something that we all need every now and again. Plus, who doesn’t love a cheesy bright movie you can sing along to?

But I’m A Cheerleader

I found this movie recently and it’s instantly become a favourite of mine. One of the reasons is that it’s all about conversion therapy which is something I’m very passionate about stopping; but it’s actually somewhat of a comedy movie about how conversion therapy doesn’t work – and if you think putting a load of gay people in camps together is going to magically make them straight you’re very wrong.

Call Me By Your Name

This one is on so many LGBTQIA+ movie lists and of course I couldn’t leave it out. It’s a story about first love of a teenager played my Timothée Chalamet who falls for his fathers intern who is staying with them for the Summer. Don’t forget to grab some tissues (being an empath I cry at everything so maybe that’s just me)!

Carol

Carol is a story of an older woman who gets into an affair with an aspiring photographer in the 1950s in New York after meeting in a department store in Manhattan. It’s a great film that is not only gorgeous to look at but also shines a light on the hidden lesbian sub-culture that existed in the 1950s.

Love, Simon

Love Simon is a coming of age story that focuses on finding yourself, coming out and the ups and downs of falling in love. It’s a great movie to watch with friends or when you want some me time with all the snacks in the world to just chill out to.

And with my list at its end, go watch some queer focused content, spread love and remember that there’s always room to continue learning and educating yourself. If you’re wanting to learn more about LGBTQIA+ history you can check out my post here.

Whilst you’re here, here’s some support services you can access if you’re in need of some support:

• LGBT Switchboard – this is an LGBT+ helpline which is 100% confidential where you can talk about anything. You can call them on 0300 330 0630 (10am-10pm everyday).
• MindLine Trans+ – which is a confidential mental and emotional health support helpline for people who are transgender, gender fluid, agender or non-binary. You can call them on 0300 330 5468.
• And here’s a big list of support services that Stonewall have put together!

Have a fabulous weekend my loves and an amazing Pride Month!!

Love,

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My Favourite Pieces Of Bedroom Decor.

Hello my lovelies! It’s been a little while since I last wrote, but I’m happy to be back writing; I’ve been spending the last few weeks busy working on the last few assignments for my apprenticeship which I have finally sent off. It’s such a great feeling to have that extra bit of time back to chill out and spend more time on my passions now everything is sent off for marking.

Speaking of my passions, I love art, interior design and collecting unique items; so this week I thought I’d share with you my favourite pieces in my bedroom!

So, let’s get into it!

First up we have my mini greenhouse that is perfect for some of my fittonia plants. I was lucky to pick this up from ikea for £12, mine was actually the display model because they completely sold out! The bottom of the green house is like a tray so you can lift the entire top off, and you can also open the top to make watering and misting plants easy. Anyone who knows me knows that my bedroom has slowly turned into an indoor plant jungle, and I can’t seem to stop buying more plants!

Next up we’ve got my wall of witchcraft supplies tools and lanterns! I’ve also got a few extra bits and bobs up there but it’s mainly things I use in my witchcraft. My favourite things on these shelves are my crystals, candles and my tarot cards; my collection of cards is always expanding and I use them several times a month. I picked up the lanterns in TK Maxx and they look beautiful when lit.

Leading on from my shelves with lots of my supplies, we also have my altar where I practice. This space gets used every day for meditation, spell casting, tarot readings and much more. My altar is definitely one of the most important spaces in my bedroom and I feel like my space wouldn’t feel right without it.

I absolutely LOVE these wall hangings I got from amazon, and they were pretty cheap too at around £18 I think?! They look gorgeous on my wall and came as a pair; the sun print is my favourite out of the two but together they look great. All I can really say about these is that they’ve been one of the best, if not the best, piece of home decor I’ve bought from amazon.

I fell in love with this psychic readings mirror sign the second my eyes landing on it when I went to my local antique shop (it also has pieces from small businesses and general quirky stuff).

You can probably see a bit of a theme with some of my favourite pieces of decor, wall art and magick. Now, you know I love my tarot cards, so when I saw this with the sign I mentioned before you know I just had to have it. (If you ever want to know more about witchcraft and how I practice let me know in the comments!).

Next up we have something that I put together because I was running out of places to put all of my stationary and journalling supplies! These are two organisers I picked up that are for nails, screws and wall plugs that I ended up cutting down to fit snug in some shelves that are built into my desk. Here is where most of my small stickers, stamos, paper scraps, pins and photos are kept which makes finding supplies and creating journal pages so much easier. If you’re looking for a good craft supply organiser, here’s the boxes I picked up.

Here we have a piece of wall art again (sorry not sorry haha, my room is tiny and I’m a bit of a hoarder so lots of stuff has ended up being put on my walls), and this one was created by my very talented older sister who gave this to me when I came out. It’s sentimental to me, gay and very cute so obviously this had to be featured in my favourites.

And finally we have this green velvet bust that I also picked up at the antique shop. I’m not one hundred percent sure what drew me to this bust, probably the colour (gorgeous I know) and my love for art. I know that when I get my own place that it’ll be filled with loads of unique and slightly strange pieces like this and I cannot wait.

So, now you know what some of my favourite pieces are, I’d love to know what your favourite pieces of home decor are! Interior design is something that always interests me and I’m always looking for new ways to decorate and change the aesthetic of a room. Where do you go for design inspiration? What’s your favourite aesthetic? I think mine’s definitely a mish-mash of all-sorts and is ever evolving.

I’ll show you a full updated tiny room tour soon, so you’ll get to see even more of my interior style! And with that, time to chill out in the sunshine that has finally arrived!

Have a fabulous bank holiday weekend my lovelies!

Love,

3 Year Blogiversary!

Hello my lovelies! I hope you’re having a great bank holiday weekend so far and are enjoying the sunshine. As you can tell from today’s post title, about a month and a bit ago was my 3 year blogiversary! So I’ve been reflecting on all of my different blog posts over the past year and what I’m looking forward to in this next year!

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I can’t believe how much I’ve changed and grown over the last three years, and I can see a massive difference between the person in the first photo compared to now; I’m so much more confident and comfortable with who I am and I think you can see that in these photos. That being said, I still love that shy and insecure girl and if I could tell her anything it would be to believe and love herself even more because it will only lead to great things.

So, what’s been happening over the past year?

I’ve written 32 blog posts last year, left a long-term relationship, I came out, spent a lot of time working on myself and just had a lot of fun (even though I couldn’t really go anywhere during it!). So, let’s go through my top 5 favourite posts from the last year!

Number Five: ‘Art Journaling.‘

I loved writing and filming this post, it’s the first time I’ve filmed my journaling process and I’m proud of how well it came out. I still journal pretty much every day and I can’t wait to show you some of my newest journal spreads!

Number Four: ‘What Pansexual People Want You To Know.‘

This post just like the next post on this list meant a lot to me, and still does. This was a blog post I had wanted to write for a really long time, and I think it covers a lot of questions and misconceptions people have about people who are pansexual. It also helped a lot in the early days when I came out as some of my family and friends had no idea what pansexuality is.

Number Three: ‘It’s Time For An LGBTQIA+ History Lesson.‘

This is such a important post to me as it covers the beginning of pride from the Stonewall Riots, important people in queer history that you should know about and how love will always win. If you’ve never heard or read the story behind the first pride, you should check out this post or go to the Stonewall website!

Number Two: ‘I Moved Into A Tiny Room.‘

This post had to be included in my top five because it was like a reset and refresh that I felt was needed, especially when the first lockdown kicked off and I knew I would be spending a lot of time in my room over the next few months! I also love this post because I haven’t done any posts on my bedroom before, so this was a nice change and was fun trying something new. Maybe I’ll do an update post soon because the room has changed a bit since then!

Number One: ‘I Shaved My Head.‘

Of course this post had to be my favourite post for the past year, because it started a huge shift in how I feel about my own beauty and appearance. Shaving my head was something I’ve always wanted to do, and last year I finally did it. It was such a liberating experience and I’d 100% do it again in the future and recommend it to anyone who’s been wanting to do it!

I’m going to continue to grow and evolve over the next year and I can’t wait to write all about it! What was your favourite post from the last year? Let me know in the comments below! It’s always fun reflecting on the past year and seeing how much I’ve changed in a few months, and for me last year was a huge year of self-growth and self-love.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a poem that has stuck with me:

Maybe,

true happiness

is when we are

happy with

ourselves.

– faraway

Have an amazing weekend my lovelies!

Love,

Customising Clothes.

Happy Sunday my lovelies! I hope you’re enjoying the four day weekend as much as I am; I celebrated my third blogiversary (post coming soon), have been creating a miniature greenhouse and have been customising some clothes!

You see, I absolutely love fashion and art, so it’s pretty natural for me to customise and create my own clothes. In the past I have customised a few pieces with embroidery (you can check them out here) but more recently I’ve been delving more into tailoring clothes to fit my style so they aren’t just sat in the back of my wardrobe.

Something I love doing to different pieces is drawing or painting my own design onto them to give them a bit of a pattern and personality. One of my favourite things I’ve done with fabric pens is draw line art faces all over a pair of mom jeans that I hadn’t worn in a long time, but now I wear them all the time!

I also had an old oversized mens simple white t-shirt that I had cropped in the past and wore as pyjamas, so I made the decision to chop off its sleeves, put in some darts to make it fit a little better, opened up the sides and added some small ties as the method of doing it up and then finally I drew similar faces to the jeans all over it. It’s gone from a boring old t-shirt to a completely new and shaped top perfect for summer.

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As well as customising clothes with fabric pens and paint, I also have slowly been personalising a denim jacket I picked up a while back with patches and pins, with the plan of covering it as much as I can!

Here’s what it looks like so far:

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And finally, the project I undertook today, customising a very long summer dress I picked up so it would be a bit more me; and the good news is that not only did it take a mere 30s minutes from start to finish, but I also documented the process so you can do the same to any dresses you may want to shorten and change up a bit!

For this dress I decided that I wanted to shorten it to around knee length (I’m 5ft 3 for reference) since it looked a bit like it was drowning me with it being full length and then adding in a thigh split to give it that extra little pop.

So, here’s what we were starting with:

As you can see, the hem of the dress landed just above my ankle, so I made the decision to take off about 8-10 inches from it to get it around knee length for me.

So, here’s what you’re going to need:

• Fabric scissors
• Sewing Machine or needle and thread (and a lot of patience)
• Pins
• Something to mark your fabric with – I used a white gel pen but most pens/pencils will work
• Measuring tape or ruler

Now that you know what you’ll need, onto some instructions!

Step 1: Measure from the bottom of the hem how much fabric you want to take off, for me this ended up being 8 inches. And remember to add your seam allowance to the bottom of this so you get the length you want, for me I was happy with anywhere in between 8 and 10 inches being cut off so I just cut at 8 inches. Then cut off the bottom of the dress.

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Step 2 : Fold over the new bottom edge of the dress and pin it down, I didn’t bother to iron the hem down but you can always do that if you want to be extra sure you’ve got a crisp edge.

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Step 3 : Sew down your hem, and try on you new dress! (Told you this was a quick way to change up and customise a dress)

I personally decided to style my new dress with a cute black belt to accentuate my waist and a pair of combat boots and that was that! I love this dress so much more now compared to before; I feel like it suits my personality a lot better too.

Here’s a before and after comparison for you!

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Compared to my white t-shirt transformation this probably doesn’t seem like a huge transformation but the small subtle changes make a difference making this dress feel younger and more my style.

And those are some of my customised pieces! I’m constantly thinking of new ways I’d like to personalise and change up my clothes and accessories, so if you like this post or try out some of these methods of customising pieces let me know and I’ll create more posts like this!

Do you like to customise your clothes? If so, what do you like to do to personalise them? Let me know in the comments!

Have a great weekend and Easter my lovelies!

Love,

Being Diagnosed With Fibromyalgia.

Hello my lovelies! I hope you had a good week and are enjoying your weekend so far! As for me, I’ve spent the day chilling out not doing much which was just what I needed after a busy week. So, as you can see from the title of today’s post, I’m going to be talking to you about fibromyalgia.

You may remember from my previous post talking to you about my spoonie journey so far that I’ve lived with chronic pain for around 5 years now, and when I wrote my last post I had just found out that my neck curves in the opposite way to how it should and that it’s something I’ve had from birth. At that time the physiotherapists believed that that could’ve been the cause of some of my back pain, but wanted to do some more investigations which led to me being referred to rheumatology and having more tests and scans done.

And after all of the results came back the rheumatologist I was seeing told me that my pain likely isn’t actually coming from the curve in my neck, and that she believes I have a condition called fibromyalgia as we have pretty much ruled everything else out at this point. And so.. back to my GP I went.

My GP then decided to send my back to physio for the hundredth time and when I described my symptoms to the physiotherapist she said I was actually describing most of the symptoms that are present in fibro and that I one of the symptoms I have is funnily enough one of the tests that is done to help diagnose fibromyalgia. After my physiotherapist said that she said she would send a letter to my GP so that my pain could finally be diagnosed as fibro since I just keep being send round the hospital departments in circles with the only thing in common with my appointments being that everyone thinks I have fibro and only my GP can diagnose me with it.

And so a few weeks passed and a phone call to my GP later, my chronic pain was officially diagnosed as fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a long-term condition that causes wide spread pain across the body which unfortunately doesn’t have a cure at this present time.

Symptoms (taken from the NHS website) can include:

• increased sensitivity to pain
• extreme tiredness (fatigue)
• muscle stiffness
• difficulty sleeping
• problems with mental processes (“fibro-fog”), such as problems with memory and concentration
• headaches
• irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a digestive condition that causes stomach pain and bloating

Although there isn’t a cure for fibro at the moment, there are ways some people manage it; following an exercise routine, taking painkillers, antidepressants, trying relaxation techniques and trying therapy.

So, now that you know a bit more about what fibromyalgia is and its symptoms etc, something I’ve been asked a lot is how do I feel about being diagnosed with FMS?

Well, it might sounds weird since fibro hasn’t got a cure but I’m actually kind of happy that I’ve been diagnosed, like it’s obviously upsetting that it’s a condition I’m stuck with that causes me a load of issues, but I’m glad that after so many years of questioning what is going on with me I’m just happy to finally have the answers behind my pain because having to constantly go back to the GP with the same issue for years makes you start to feel like you’re going mad and that maybe it’s all in your head when it’s not. But now I know what is the cause of my pain etc, I can start looking forward at what I can do and try out to manage my symptoms.

In terms of the symptoms that I deal with on a daily basis, I typically have back pain, fatigue, lack of sleep, fibro-fog and headaches. To manage my symptoms I work out two to three times per week, take naps when I need them, make to-do lists and put loads of reminders in my phone and take pain killers. I also have an acupressure pillow I sometimes sit with on bad flare up days which is essentially a pillow with loads of spikes all over it to help stimulate blood flow and help with pain management. There’s quite a few different types of products out there that I want to try out for managing chronic pain, so if you have any favourites or any that you’d like to see me try out and review then let me know!

It’s a weird feeling having a condition that can be pretty debilitating whilst also being invisible to others, it can sometimes feel like other people don’t believe you’re ill because ‘you don’t look ill’ and appear completely fine to the outside world, so I’m working on validating my own feelings and making sure I don’t overdo things and cause myself a flare up. When you live with chronic pain everyday, I think we sometimes forget to actually acknowledge how much strength and energy it takes to do everyday tasks, and because we’re in constant pain we sometimes don’t bother to even tell anyone we’re in pain because it’s just normal for us; so if you see someone and think they’re perfectly fine because they appear fine on the outside, maybe take a second to remind yourself that not all illnesses are visible and let people know that their feelings are valid.

Even though I’ve only gotten my official diagnosis this year, I’ve actually been living with fibro for around 4-5 years, and in that time it has taught me several things:

• You can always tell if someone is ill just be their appearance
• Your feelings are valid
• It’s ok to rest when you need to
• It takes time to find what works for you in terms of symptom management
• You’re still you, even with a long-term condition
• Find people you can talk to about what you’re going through who understand

So now you know a bit more about my spoonie journey, what I’ve learnt so far and how it’s changed since last year! And with that, I think it’s time to stop my rambling and brain dump for today!

Have a great weekend my lovelies and look after yourselves!

Love,

Revolution Rainbow Drops Review.

Hello my lovelies! I hope you’ve had a good week so far and have been enjoying the slightly warmer weather (if we can even call it warmer haha we’re still under 10 degrees celsius)! So, this week I’ve been taking some time for selfcare, and one of the things I decided to do was to look after and tone my hair. You may have noticed from my other posts over the last few weeks that my hair is now pink!

I had pink hair once for about a week, and that was when I first shaved my head. I loved the colour, but at the time it was too big of a change for me and I only kept it for a week, but then about a month or two ago I took the plunge and went pink again, and I absolutely love it!

This weekend I spent some time bleaching and toning my roots. Since bright hair colours fade fairly fast I’ve taken to toning my hair every 5-7 weeks to keep my hair vibrant. And to do that I’ve picked up some Revolution rainbow hair drops in ‘pink rays’ and ‘peach rays’ to try out, and I figured why not review them for you as I think they’re fairly new!

The hair drops have around 300 drops in a post, and are used with conditioner and is applied like a hair mask. To get the colour you want you just add the number of drops into the conditioner until you get the colour you want. You can also check the colour with the number of drops you need with the colour chart on the box.

First impressions of the drops are that they’re quite gloopy and are very pigmented. I used about 25 of pink and 10 of peach to make my colour the first time I toned my hair and then I just winged it the second time until it was a colour I wanted. The conditioner I decided to use was a from superdrugs own ‘fruity’ range of hair products, I picked it up at the same time I picked up the drops.

I’ll admit, when I looked online at reviews I saw that these drops worked for some people and did nothing for others so I was a bit skeptical, but figured that for the price it was worth a try and if they worked for me then I’d definitely get more than my money’s worth.

Here’s what my hair looked like before, during and after the toning:

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And here’s what my hair looks like now that it’s dry:

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I have to say, when I washed out the toner (the time I didn’t count how many drops I used – probably around 25/30 pink and 20 peach) my hair was looking like it was going to be neon, and to be honest I absolutely love it! My hair has never been so vibrant and pink is definitely a colour that I’ll have for quite some time.

My overall review on the Rainbow Hair Drops by Revolution is that they worked amazingly on my bleached hair, and I was able to get a completely unique colour for my hair which I love. Plus, I love that it’s a pigment dropper that will last a long time and all you need is a colourless conditioner; so not only was the colour payoff great for me, but my hair was also left feeling super nourished and shiny.

I’d one hundred percent recommend these to anyone who has pink hair, and if I decide to go another colour I’ll definitely look into using their colour drops to tone my hair; at the moment they’ve got pink, peach, lilac, silver and blue available at superdrug. I believe they’re priced at £9.99 per bottle which if you think about it is very cheap for a toner that has 300 drops in it and all you have to do is decide how much you want to use for the shade you want. I’d be very interested to see how their other colour drops look on others hair, especially the lilac and blue droppers (blue hair unfortunately isn’t my colour, but I may try lilac in the future if I fancy switching up colours!).

I think the results you’ll get with these will depend on your hair and it’s current condition,; for me, my hair had been bleached twice once with 30 volume developer and another with 20 volume and then I had a previous pastel pink demi permanent colour which had faded out. With most bright and pastel tones they’ll show up better on light natural blonde or bleached hair, and my hair sucks up pigment pretty quickly and easily which is likely why I am able to get such a bold shade.

What hair colours have you been? What was your favourite? Let me know in the comments!

And with that, I’m going to go and have a pyjama day! Have a great rest of your week my lovelies!!

Love,

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Art Journalling.

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a good weekend so far and are looking after yourself.

As you will have noticed, the day that this post is going up is a Sunday instead of my usual Saturday, and that’s because I’ve had to make a small change to my blogging schedule due to other stuff going on, so for the next few months posts will be up on Sundays instead on Saturdays!

So, over the last few weeks you may have also noticed something new about me.. I finally took the plunge and dyed my hair pastel pink! I absolutely love it and I think it’s my favourite colour so far!

Another thing that has been happening recently is that I’ve been making more time to work in my sketchbook which is becoming a bit like an art journal, sketchbook and scrapbook combo.

To get an idea of the sort of thing I mean, here’s one of my Pinterest boards of inspiration!

Now that you have a bit of an idea as to what I’m jabbering on about, here’s a few reasons why I love art journalling and 100% recommend it to everyone who loves getting creative and struggles to get out of their own head after a long day:

• It’s relaxing and a great way to practice mindfulness.
• I can jot down any ideas and thoughts I’ve had during the day.
• It’s a way for me to practice and improve my creative skills.
• It’s like a photo album of memories and thoughts you can look back on.

So now that you know some of the many reasons why I love art journalling, why don’t you grab yourself a cuppa, sit down, get out your art supplies and journal with me! And even if you’ve never tried journalling or are just curious as to what my sketchbook looks like, you can check out the video and photos below!

Here’s some of my favourite spreads, some are still works in progress that I plan on coming back to very soon!

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You may have noticed that when it comes to my journal there isn’t huge amounts of text or writing, and there’s two reasons for that. One being that I don’t always know what to write. Two, I have never been good at writing down my exact thoughts, so instead I express them through other things like quotes. Another thing you will have noticed is that I like to feature unique words in my journal spreads, and that’s because I like finding words that I’ve never heard of before that I think are pretty and then research some that fit with the theme of my pages.

My love for journalling and working in my sketchbook has always been there, and over the last few weeks and months I’ve been dedicating more and more time to it and it’s done wonders for managing my mental health. Not to mention that I get to have a very pretty sketchbook after.

What’s your favourite spread in my journal/sketchbook? Do you have your own sketchbook or journal you like to work in? If you do, I’d love to see them, just tag me on instagram (@theweightofmyworlds) !

Well, that’s all from me for today my lovelies! Have a great rest of your weekend!

Love,

Trying Out Different Style Aesthetics.

Hello my lovelies!! So over the last few months I’ve been trying out different fashion styles to see which ones I like the most; and I decided to start off with two of my favourite styles – light and dark academia! I also decided to try out e-girl fashion and then some cute tops I wouldn’t normally have ordered myself!

To give you an idea of all of the styles I like and look forward to trying, you can check out my pinterest board below!

First up I’ve been putting together some cute outfits based on light and dark academia! The academia style is all about layering, check and dogstooth patterns, cardigans, turtlenecks, jumpers and that sort of old English school fashion. For dark academia I used dark, slightly preppy pieces, including a cute black a-line skirt, dark green cardigan, dark pleated skirt, turtlenecks, dark jumpers and checked trousers. For light academia I used lighter clothes, still lots of turtlenecks, some pleated skirts and light check trousers.

Here’s a brief overview of some pieces you might see in dark and light academia outfits:

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Here’s some of the dark academia outfits I came up with with what I had in my wardrobe!

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And here are some light academia outfits I came up with!

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Along with trying out the different academia aesthetics, I also ordered a few pieces to try out an e-girl look!

For this I picked out a black graphic tee, my a-line skirt with a slit, black tights and fishnets, chunky black boots, a striped turtleneck and some chains!

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I’ve also been trying out some more colours that I wouldn’t usually gravitate towards, because I recently dyed my hair a pinky colour which made me want to try out some new colours that would compliment my hair nicely!

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After trying out these different styles, I have found a major love for both of the academia aesthetics. They made me feel like I should be in some romantic magical land with beautiful libraries and buildings, and I one hundred percent felt smarter wearing these outfits. Plus, this aesthetic is great for the colder weather because it typically has a lot of layering involved! And this helped me find my love for turtlenecks once again!

I also really enjoyed the e-girl aesthetic, it made me feel powerful and like I was a badass! It definitely wasn’t as cosy as the academia aesthetics for me but was still super cute. I’m not sure it’s a style that I’ll fully adopt into my wardrobe more than I have for this try-on, but I know I’ll certainly wear aspects of it now and again. One thing I’m for sure going to start wearing more of is the colour green because I really like how it looks against my skin tone and my new hair!

Trying out these different aesthetics has absolutely made me want to try more styles out in the future; I love the look of cottage core and soft girls so I may well try those ones out next!

What aesthetics would you like to see me try next? Let me know in the comments!

Have a great weekend my lovelies!

Love,