A-Z Guide to Happiness: T & U

T & U

I'm running out of days now so I'm having to double up on a few letters!!

T - Talking!!!!!

Ok, so it's not always easy to voice how you feel, but talking really really does help in several ways!
Firstly, if you're going through a tough time, you could talk to someone and open up to them and they'll be able to help you and support you through it, I've done this recently and I now feel more cared for than I have in a very long time because I know I have people that are there when I need an extra push.

It's also helpful because you don't necessarily have to talk about whatever's going on, but you could talk about other things. Use talking as a distraction! Talk to someone about random stuff like.. I Don't know, if they were an animal what would they be? If they had a super power what would they want it to be? Anything to keep your mind busy :)

Finally, you can help others! Someone could be really having a tough time, and just by dropping them a little message saying hey I hope you're ok, or inviting them for a coffee or something, they may not say yes or want to talk, but I guarantee if that person is in a bad place and you do that, you'll make them realise that they are noticed and people do care.


U - Underwear

This one does sound a little bit weird I know. I was struggling to think of something that begins with U, but the reason I've chosen Underwear is for your own point of view rather than others.

If I wear my comfy pants and bra etc that are really old but I Dont throw away because I like ot be comfortable, I don't necessarily feel attractive. Howeverrrrr, if I have a set of really pretty underwear, I honestly do feel more confident.. and confidence is always good nowadays! I struggle a lot with body confidence so putting on something that I feel I look good in, and I can look in a mirror and be like hey, I actually look sort of ok in this! it's a massive thing!!

What makes you happy??

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: S

S

Singing

I think I have always sung really from about the age of 6 or something. When I was in year 3 at middle school I joined the choir, and that was it from there really! I always loved singing and was always belting out the hymns in our assemblies.

I begged my parents for singing lessons and they always said no until one day I wrote my first song, after that they then let me go for singing lessons and within 3 years I had achieve grade 8 of the Rock School exams.

I studied music at college, which involved a lot of performing and I loved every minute of being on stage with my very dysfunctional family :) I was with such a talented bunch of musicians and I really hope they make it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB6_W7YzCmY

I love singing a variety of things from Rock to Country! My favourite is acoustic stuff though. I like to take chart songs and make an acoustic version. My old duet partner Harry was incredible, him and I always performed an acoustic set, he would play guitar and sing harmonies and I would sing the main melody, and if i say so myself it sounded bloody amazing! I'm gutted I don't get the chance to perform with him anymore (Adult life got in the way for me, and he's now at uni) as he is one of the most talented musicians I've ever met!

Another thing that's good about singing is if you are listening to music and focusing on the lyrics, it is a very good distraction against anxiety or things that are worrying you or making you feel low!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69PevoT0WOw

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: R

R

I love reading!

My favourite types of books are ones that have an element of mystery, maybe a bit of comedy sometimes, I quite like stories that are believable/true also.

Here are some of my favourite books:

- All of the Cathy Glass books! Cathy Glass is an author who is a foster carer, her books are all true and each about a child's story. A child that she has taken in temporarily, or long term, in order to try help them and their families. It is incredible what she does, and the things that these children have been through as well, but she never gives up on them and 90% of the time, she breaks through all the barriers and the child will open up and progress.

- Nothing left to Lose.. I LOVED this book. I was going to paste the blurb on here but is full of spoilers! It's basically a story about a young girl, tragedy, hierarchy, pain and love. I definitely definitely recommend it! On the Kindle it's only £1.94 - if you want to read a little more click on this link and you can see a bit about the book, but it does sort of give the story line away!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nothing-Left-Lose-Guarded-Hearts-ebook/dp/B00GGMQLFO

- The Body Finder - This is probably one of my more far fetched books that I've read, but I still love the series! If I remember right there are 4 books. It's basically about a young girl who is able to sense the echos of things that have been killed in an un natural way, she can also sense the imprint on the killer, this matches the echo. She finds animals that have been killed e.g a bird killed by a cat etc at first, then as she gets older she discovers other things, and eventually teams up with a group of other people with special talents to help solve crimes. Should totally read it if you want something that gives you a bit of an adrenaline rush as some bits are quite tense! It's an easy read too :)

I get very into my books if I'm honest, I can't help it. A couple of years ago on holiday I read 7 books in one week!!! I only took 3 with me, but luckily my dad had his kindle so i borrowed that for the week :) I do read very quickly, oops! I do sometimes maybe get a little toooo into my books lol, sometimes I actually have to try work out whether I actually did something or if that was a character in my book.. sad I know!! I just love it! :)

What books do you like?

Much Love

LJ Xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: Q

Q

Shhhh... Quiet

Ok so this isn't for everyone, and it isn't always for me if I'm honest! But sometimes I do really enjoy just taking a step back, pausing and just listening to nothing, watching the world go by!

Sounds a little weird I know, but I used to just walk home from school and sometimes I'd stop, look up at the sky at the clouds going past, breathe and think for a bit.

I also like taking myself out and going to the beach or something, one of my favourite places to go is Brighton, I've only been once but I absolutely loved it. Being sat on the pebbled beach, watching the waves, people having fun on the pier etc.

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: P

P

Photography

I love love love photography, for me it is a hobby, I believe that I have got an eye for it and I am capable of taking a good photo, and I never believe that I'm good at anything! So having confidence in this is a big deal. My only set back is that I couldn't do it professionally as I do not have the technical knowledge i.e f-stops and lighting etc.

I did try to learn this when volunteering at a photography studio, however I was not taught what to do, the photographer 'teaching' me would set up the lighting and camera and get me to do the shoot, but I already had the eye for what looked good, the right positioning of the model and the camera, I had an issue with making it happen technically. I also tried reading up on it but I just didn't understand it, I learn much better by doing and putting stuff into practice.

Here are a few of my shots..

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ Xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: O

O

O is for... Orange is the New Black

Following on from yesterday's Netflix post, I wanted to select OITNB as my happiness for the letter O.

If you haven't heard of this series I think you may be living under a rock. Especially if you're on facebook as you must have seen the latest girl that everyone has been raving about... Ruby Rose <3

There are so many different character's on this show and they all have completely different personalities, and most of them have two different sides to themselves as well.

You've got Piper, the start of the story / main character, and she has a nice loving side, then she has a kinda crazy psycho side where she goes a bit power crazy. Alex, who is more firm and controlling, but then also has a sensitive side. and it goes on and on.

I really like the character Tastee as she's often a lot of fun but has a slightly motherly side too and looks out for her friends :)

What makes you happy??

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: N

N

Ok, might be a little sad me saying this but Netflix!

I absssoluteelyy love Netflix, It's perfect when you want to watch a random film but not sure what as there's a massive range and I guarantee you'll find something on there that you've not heard of before.

Also I've found many tv series that are now my favourite shows through netflix. One of which is House.

I had already watched House before, but re-watched all the series earlier in the year thanks to Netflix :) House is basically a show full of sarcasm, emotion and a hint of comedy, all about Dr Gregory House's diagnostics team trying to solve medical mysteries. Honestly I'd really recommend it!

My other favourite show is Castle. I know, my two favourite shows are called House and Castle, I sound like I have some sort of weird property obsession but neither of which are at all related to properties :P

Castle is about a murder mystery writer who has a copy cat killer, so he works with the NYPD Homicide team to help catch the killer, he then gets a bit of a thing for the lead detective Kate Beckett and pulls strings to stay on the team helping them solve crimes and get more research for his stories. Again it's a show that has mystery, comedy and sarcasm. The actors really bounce off eachother with their witty remarks, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! :)

Another show I really liked is Orange Is The New Black, if you haven't watched this yet then you need to!!!!!! It's quite a rollercoaster of a show, my favourite characters change quite frequently which is rare usually I tend to favour one person throughout the series but nope! Each episode partially tells the story behind each of the main characters. It's dark, sexy but also is actually pretty funny considering it's about a bunch of female criminals in prison!!!

What makes you happy?

Much love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: M

M

I had a few for this, but I think the one I am going to go for is Make Up!

So, I'm not going to say you should cake yourself in makeup because I think looking natural and being comfortable in your own skin is so important, even if you still use makeup but as a natural look to enhance your features.

However... I find that if I am feeling low in general or about myself, playing with my makeup often cheers me up! Partially because it does take some concentration depending on the look you're trying to achieve, and also, if I'm being totally honest, it does make me feel more confident.

I absolutely love playing with makeup and I think its amazing the different things that people can do with it, I truly do see it as a form of art.

Here's some pictures from when I was experimenting a little a month or so ago, I've never done a look quite like this before and I also tried on false lashes for one of the first times! I've never been brave enough to wear them out though as you often see that drunk girl with her lashes hanging off her face or something, I don't wanna be that girl!!

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness : L

L 

Louise Pentland

Yup that's it, another youtuber! I could've gone for the obvious and put love for L but the only Love I have right now is my family really and I've already done a section on that:P

So I decided to go with the beautiful queen Sprinklerino, Louise! I absolutely love love love Louise, to me she is so inspirational. Her message is all about spreading happiness, that's all she wants to do. She tries to boost girls confidence in their bodies, she tries to put a positive spin on everything and literally just tries to add a sprinkle of glitter to the world.

Plus her daughter Darcy / Baby Glitter is ohhh so adorable <3, the relationship between the pair of them is beautiful and I hope one day I will have a relationship like that with my child. I am very close to my mum too :)

Louise has sort of had a hard life really, a lot of obstacles thrown in the way, but look at her now, written a book, hundreds of thousands of subscribers and followers, all because she's one beautiful woman trying to spread happiness through the world.

If you haven't watched any of her videos you need to go on youtube and look now! She's such a bubbly woman who certainly isn't afraid to make a bit of a fool out of herself, which is another thing I love!

I hope one day I will be able to be as happy and as confident in myself as what she is.

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: K

K

KETCHUP!

Ok...so, sounds a bit weird that my happy thing for the letter K is Ketchup .. BUT at work they always laugh at me and call me ketchup girl because if we ever go out for dinner i HAVE to have ketchup.

I don't even know why I like it so much, but I eat it with pretty much everything, including roast dinners and salad. You name it, I'd probably attempt to eat it with ketchup.

For my 18th Birthday, as a part of my present my sister got me 18 ketchup sachets and an apron that says I <3 Ketchup all over it. I still use the apron to this day, and I also carry around ketchup sachets in my handbags incase of like you know.. emergencies! Not the same ones from 3 years ago though don't worry!

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: J

J

Jim Chapman, yes I know he's another youtuber, I have a slight obsession with the tube of youuu, can you tell? I can guarantee you now I will be mentioning atleast two others throughout the rest of this guide! I'm sorry!! I tried to think of something else beginning with J but it's very hard. Has anyone else got something rather than a person?

Soooooo Jim Chapman is from Norwich, his brother is also a youtuber doing some form of fitness channel, and Jim's Fiancee Tanya is also from the youtube world. Tanya's mum actually taught me English at college! I spoke to her once telling her about my youtube videos for a presentation and she told me her daughter is on youtube and it doing quite well with it, 4 years down the line she's massive in the youtube community and has her own beauty range for sale in Superdrug.

Jim seems like one of the kindest people you can ever meet, from what you can tell from videos, he is incredibly down to earth, a very gentle person and I think he would quite happily be friends with everyone if he could!!

I think that's why I like his videos, they're always pretty positive and he's always so nice and sometimes social media is full of negativity but he always has something fun and nice to say!!

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness : I

I

Hellloooo

So, it was actually kind of hard to think of something beginning with I, but I think I'm going to go for Ingrid Nilsen.

For those of you that don't know of Ingrid, she is a youtuber (MissGlamorazzi). Her videos mostly consist of beauty, makeup, fashion, she also has a vlogging channel by the name of The Grid Monster. She is a very beautiful young woman, who seems like a good laugh, very down to earth and positive, someone I definitely would love to meet.

 I used to watch her videos a few years ago, then sort of got into the british crowd of youtubers, but lately I have got back into watching her since her Coming Out video was posted a couple of months ago with over 11 million views..

This video was one of the most inspirational things (probably second to Shane Dawson's coming out video). I think this might be because they have finally found the confidence to just be them, and be happy! I would love to one day be able to be me, I'm not saying I'm coming out or anything but in general, I often put on some sort of persona around certain people to attempt to fit in, and it just isn't me.

If you want to watch the video (if you haven't seen it you may have been living under a rock :P) I have linked it here:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7WRYXVh9M

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: H

H

Home :)

My favourite place to be in the world is home, I often like to travel and go on little road trips for a few days, but I always always love the feeling of being back in my own bed.

I live in a reasonably small town, there's not a lot to do here, but I only live about 35 mins away from Norwich and 45 mins away from another town thats just a fair bit bigger than where I live! So I can always go there for stuff to do.

My town isn't the nicest of places, but its not really that bad either. You have all sorts of people, not a classy place but also not a rough one, I can walk through town and feel safe and not worried about someone starting a fight or something randomly! The only problem with having a small town is everybody knows your business, sometimes they know it even before you do!

I live in a 5 bed house, it used to be 4 then we got an extension, and this is where we have always lived. When I was little it was Mum, Dad, Me, my two sisters and my brother, my siblings have all moved out now though so it's just me at home. I'm quite happy here for the time being, I don't see the point in moving out on my own to pay for a house that I'm barely going to be in because I'm at work all the time, plus right now I need the company of my parents. I save up some money every pay day that is going towards my own mortgage for when I am ready to move out :) Although every now and then I do dip into it for a little treat but not often.

My room is a theme of duck egg blue and baby pink, I got my bedding and curtains from Dunelm Mill and I loveeeee it! I made my room this way after I split with my ex, I wanted brighter colours that would make my room more of a happy place and also wanted to get rid of the memories of him so I moved all the furniture round and made it a little more colourful and girly:)

We've looked at moving quite a few times but we never have. I can't imagine us not living here, we are the only people to ever live in this house and it truly is our home, my safety bubble. I love it.

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: G

G

Helloooo

Gabrielle Aplin, originating from youtube, later getting one of her songs as the track for one of the Christmas John Lewis adverts.. Gabrielle Aplin's album English Rain is AMAZING.

I have always loved Gabrielle since I first her singing with Harry and Alfie (Hudson Taylor) then my friend showed me a few more of her songs. I've recently discovered her album English Rain, and that noticed that this album really helps with my anxiety.

Here is a link to a playlist of the album if you want to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b94dzKJfNIU&list=PLSVA3e8gd9-WZIGHBzgPgYKa3jb372VeC

My favourite tracks on this are
- Home
- Please don't say you love me
- Panic Chord
- Salvation
- I also love the song 'The Power of Love' but not sure if that's on this album!

What I do when I'm feeling anxious; If I'm at home then I will lay on my bed, light a lavender candle (Helps you to relax/sleep), turn off my light and just have on the bedside lamp instead, put the album on and relax, I've tried this a couple of times and it really helps!

I also recently went shopping whilst listening to the music in one earphone and I felt so much better! I wasn't worried about people talking to me or looking at me or anything like that, I felt shut off and un noticed - which is what I like when I'm shopping!:)

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: F

F

Hellloooo!!

The thing that makes me happy for the letter F is FAMILY :)

My Family literally means the world to me.

My Mum:
This woman has been through more in her lifetime than anyone should have to face. She was just a little bit older than I am now when she lost her husband and her mum, whilst also caring for her two little ones (my sisters). It was a hard time but she did it, she pulled through it, and eventually she met my dad and they had me. Mum always says I'm the good that came out of a lot of bad. Whenever I'm feeling weak, I think about everything that my mum went through and I just know that I have to stay strong for her. My mum is my bestfriend, my rock and one of the only people in this world that I can literally talk about ANYTHING with.

My Dad:
So, I'm a littttleee bit of a daddy's girl! We bond over different things to me and mum. I started playing computer games with my dad when I was about 8, and that started my gaming habits! We also have quite a similar taste in movies. Dad is the one man in my life that has never ever let me down, and stuck by me with every decision I've made, even if he disagreed and wanted to protect me, he still let me do the things I wanted because he knows that I have to learn. Whenever I've had my heart broken dad will go get me sweets and a movie and we will spend the night watching films together, one year my ex forgot me on valentines day, so my dad bought me flowers. No man will ever come close to my dad, but I hope one day I can have a relationship like him and my mum, they literally are made for eachother!

My Sisters
I have two sisters, well 3 kind of!!
One sister (that i mentioned in yesterdays blog) lives quite a few hours away with her partner (the 3rd sister). I'm very close with this sister now, we haven't always been but as I've got older we've grown closer and I often turn to her when I need some advice, a laugh or a get away! I can't thank them enough for always opening their door to me whenever I've needed an escape.
My other sister lives in Australia, we've not lived together since I was about 9 as there's quite a big age gap and thats when she went to uni, after uni she went travelling and met her now husband, she then moved out to Australia! We don't talk that often, especially as she's now travelling, but we both know that we love eachother and are there for eachother if necessary!

My Brother:
I have one brother, we aren't SUPER close, as much as I'd love to be, but we are both sort of quiet people so are sort of reserved I guess. But he does always look out for me like a big brother should. At the time I don't always appreciate it, but in the long run I know he's doing the best thing for me and just trying to protect me.

And now there's also my beautiful niece who I just cannot get enough of! But I wrote alll about her yesterday so I won't repeat myself:)

My brother, two sisters and me 2 years ago (the last time we were all together)

So yeh, that's my family. They are my world, what keeps me going and my purpose. I love them to the moon and back :)

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: E

E

Hellooo

So this one is a little difficult, my thing that makes me happy beginning with E is my niece! However, she is adopted and at the moment I can't post much information about her (including her name as its quite unique) as we need to ensure that she is safe and protected.

So for this blog post she is just going to be called E!

My sister is gay, and she has been with her partner for probably 7 years now! They're engaged and decided that they wanted to have a family. Obviously, they couldn't exactly go about starting the family a normal way, so they thought why bring in new life when there's already children out there that deserve to have the best chance at life, so they decided to adopt!

There process was actually very quick compared to most cases! but a few months ago they finally got their little girl! She has completely been welcomed into our family and we are all so in love with her. I spoil her at every chance I get! This included bringing her back an ibiza rocks baby grow as she LOVES music.

E is a very lucky little lady as due to the fact of going into fostercare very young, she hasn't got a gap like most adoptive children do because her foster family documented every little thing they did and what she achieved.

Since being with my sisters she's now started walking un-aided, she has some physical weaknesses which have made it more difficult for her to walk than other children. But she is doing SOO well!

Everytime I get low I just have to watch a video of her giggling away, she has the most infectious laugh in the world I swear!! The only down side is that they live 5 hours away from us :( whenever I have time off work I try to visit, and they do the same! But I would do anything for us to be closer together.

What 'E' makes you happy? :)

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: D

D

Hellooo

Dancing!

I personally am pretty pants at dancing but I used to do it when I was little and I did love it and I now wish that I had never stopped.

But even though I now don't dance, I do think it is something that can make others very happy, and watching others dance does make me happy so it still counts :P

Dancing is a very good way of releasing emotions as there are so many different types of dance and also different genres of music you could be performing too. Something like street dance would let out a lot of frustration I think as its a lot of tensing and relaxing your muscles and often has sharp hard movements. Where as ballet is often very calming, especially to watch!

One of my favourite types of dance would be contemporary, I think this is because it often tells a story that you can get lost in and you feel the emotions through their dance.

After having a look around online, I really liked this video (once the dancing starts! - about one minute in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx3NdoMpYDw

What would your word be??

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: C

C

Hellloooo

Today's letter is C, and for this I choose COOKING!

I absolutely love cooking, albeit a little bit stressful at times, but hey... the end result is yummy food so it's worth it!!

I think my favourite meal I have made so far is home made lasagne and potato wedges, for this I use the 'nosh for students' recipe book, which I highly recommend as it's full of easy recipes for quick meals, homey meals, comfort meals, fake aways! I absolutely love it.

I also recently attempted the triple chocolate cookies from Love Tanya (Tanya Burr's book) and oh...my...god they are the best cookies I've ever tasted!! The girls from work said it was like a bite of heaven :P I often bake little goodies to take in as I do really enjoy doing it! My friend Hannah tells me I should open a bakery one day but I don't think I'm quite that good!

If you want to take a look at something I've cooked and reviewed from the Nosh for Students cook book then take a look at my blog post below. Should I bring back Tasty Tuesdays? 

http://ell-jaye.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/tasty-tuesdays-week-one.html

I've just asked my mum what her favourite thing that begins with C is, her answer was Cadburys! Typical woman, a proper chocaholic!!
What be your Happy C?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: B

B

Hellooo

So for today's letter I choose BUBBLE BATHS!!!!!!!!!

I've had a couple of rough days so I thought a bubble bath was just what I needed!

I set up my bathroom, lit some lovely smelling candles - There's a place called notcutts near me and last xmas they sold this amaaazzingg vanilla candle that smells like cupcake dolls (a toy from when I was little, they were basically like barbies and when you turned their dress inside out they went into like a cupcake, but they were scented.. sounds strange i know but delightful for your nose lol! -  So anywayyy.. I used that candle, and then a few others.

I got a couple of pieces of Zoella's fizz bar and used that, I love the smell of it and watching it fizz, the only thing is I quite like having bubbles in my baths and fizzers don't have that effect, so I have to use a bubble bath too :P

I stuck my new Toshiba Chromebook (highly recommended) on the side and set up a playlist of Gabrielle Aplin on youtube for whilst I was relaxing in the bath. Gabrielle Aplin is my go-to music at the moment when I'm feeling stressed or on edge, I'm not sure why, something about her music and voice is incredibly soothing.

What would be your happy thing for the letter B?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: A

A

Hellloooo!

So, today's letter is A, for this I am going to choose the word Animals!

I have a westhighland terrier called Poppy, she's getting a little old now bless her! When we first got her she was smaller than a football and sooo cute! She still is cute now, just not as diddy! :)

I also have a pet Degu, very adorable animal and funny to watch, although I'm still a little scared incase she bites me, she never has but the man at the pet store decided to tell me scary bite stories! Not what you should do when trying to sell an animal!

Anyyywaayyy, part of the reason why I have chosen Animals as my letter is because it is scientifically proven that the company of a dog for example, assists in improving depression and anxiety! 

Some of the reasons that they help improve depression and anxiety are the following:

- Dogs can sense when you are feeling low and upset, and they will respond to these emotions to try make you feel better.

- Dogs also are less likely to respond if you are giving commands in a stressful or frustrated manor, meaning that you must learn to control your emotions in order to speak to your dog calmly and assertively.

- If you have a dog, it will need walking - which means 1) you get out of the house instead of staying shut away all day and 2) You're exercising, which releases endorphins (the happy chemical that your brain makes) so it's a win win situation!

- Often if a dog is lying with their head in your lap, you will want to stroke them, they are calming animals and by doing this it is a soothing motion which can help when you are feeling anxious.

- If you have a little puppy bouncing around being a bit nutty and trying to play... are you going to say no to that? Are you going to be able to resist having a little giggle?? I highly doubt it!!! 

- It's a conversation starter if you aren't used to talking to people! You could bump into someone when walking your dog and you have something that you can actually talk about without having to rack your brain!

- Companionship, you're not going to feel alone when you have a pup by your side! They say a dog is a man's best friend.

- Having a pet gives you responsibility, I see it as almost like a purpose! This animal needs you, it needs you to get out of bed in the morning to feed it, walk it, give it water! It needs to be played with and loved! 

Although I have got a dog, she's not technically mine! I would absolutely love to have my very own puppy that I raise myself and build a bond with from day one! If I could get one I would like a King Charles Spaniel as these are very fun, gentle and loving dogs that are highly recommended for people that suffer from depression.

If you want to read a bit more about this, here are a couple of links!:

http://pets.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-pets-improve-your-health

http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/pets-depression

http://dogsfordepression.org.uk/how-dogs-help-us.html

Do you have pet that helps you? Tell me about them and how they help!!

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness

Helloooo!!

So for the month of August I am going to be making an A-Z Guide to Happiness!

Each day in August (minus a few as there's not enough letters in the alphabet!) I'm going to make a post about something that makes me happy using that day's letter!

The aim of this is to create a list of things to refer to if I'm ever struggling to find something that will make me smile.

Feel free to make your own list! I'd absolutely love to see what other people come up with too, so if you fancy it give it a go and write it in the comments below or tweet me at @ell_jaye :)

Much love...

LJ xo

Introduce yourself....again

Hellloooo!! Long time no speak

So, I'm trying to get back into blogging, mainly as a bit of motivation for myself.

My emotions are kind of a rollercoaster to be honest! sometimes I have down days when in reality there's nothing specifically wrong with my life, in fact I am very lucky but that doesn't stop negativity! Where as others I'll be full of laughs and everything will seem ok.

So basically, I want this to be my happy place, somewhere I can put all of my positives for me to look at when I need some inspiration and motivation.

Hopefully in time this blog will be filled with family, friends, happy memories, laughs, photographs, makeup, hair, cooking.... everything that puts a smile on my face!

With any luck, eventually I will help other people to!

Anyway, that's enough for now! Hopefully I stick to it this time!

Much love...

LJ xo

Getting Fit

Hey Guys!!

So, just to put it out there, I split up with my boyfriend, my bestfriend, two days ago. So I'm now thinking of ways to make myself happy and feel better about myself for 2015.

One of these would be to get fit, I used to walk around 4 miles a day at school and college as I had to walk from one side of the city to another. However I now work 9-5:30 at a desk job, and drive 40 minutes each way when going to and from work/home. So as you can tell.. my exercise has dropped dramatically! Meaning that in the last year I have gained 1 stone.

I know that is not a massive amount, I also know I haven't got a lot of fat to lose, but once I have lost what I need I plan to tone up.

In order to do this I'm going to be following the Blogilates work out plans, 30 Day Flat Ab Challenge & Beginners 2.0   4 week plan.

30 Day Flat Ab Challenge
For this it is basically what it says on the tin, 30 days of building up your abs. It starts of with a simple set of 5 reps of 3 different exercises, then each day the sets/reps increase, until the end where you are able to do 5 different sets of 22 reps.

It also has on it the amount of extra cups of water you should aim to drink each day as this decreases bloating.

Beginner's 2.0
I have a feeling this is going to be a fair bit more intense than the ab challenge. This workout plan contains video names for Blogilates, where you can then go onto youtube and follow her work out video. I think this is going to be quite a bit more intense than the ab challenge as some of these videos are 30 minutes long. But I am determined to stick with it!

So, without further a-due, here is my BEFORE picture - weighing in at 10 stone. I would like to be 9 stone 9lbs by 31st January, I think that should be pretty do-able!

If anyone else would like to join in with me, please tweet me or tag me on your instagram pics!

Blogilates also has some healthy food recipes on her app, which I shall be trying out too! Let me know if you have tried any in the comments below!! 

Thank you for reading, I will be keeping you updated on my progress!

Much love xoxo

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