Dealing with your cards...

Hello blogland :)

Yes, I know it’s been over two months since I’ve written a post *hangs head in shame* and I wouldn’t blame you if you were a little upset with me. Or a lot upset.

Truth is, I haven’t been feeling very well these past few months. My anxiety and depression has flared up a lot and I found myself having between 1 and 8 panic attacks a day, which isn’t a great experience. I’ve had many blog post ideas lined up such as reviews, days out, recipes etc, but I refrained from posting them as I knew they just didn’t have enough life in them, which was a general reflection of how I felt. So, instead of putting up some crappy work, I wanted to wait until I felt a little better.

This post isn’t just an apology. I wanted to share some advice with you all. Sometimes in life you hit a brick wall. Now this could be your crush being horrid to you, or your mum not allowing you to go shopping with friends. Or it could be something more difficult to understand or deal with, such as a death or some pretty crappy feelings. What I want to say to you is, don’t let that metaphorical wall keep you back from seeing the amazing views on the other side. There are always gonna be shit times in your life (pardon the language), but that’s just the way it is. No ones life is completely smooth running - no matter how much they say it is. But always try and focus on the positives you have going on, a roof over your head, food in the cupboard, friends, family, music, a book you can escape into, the list goes on! It’ll be hard to do this straight away, but it’s all about training your mind and learning to focus on the bigger picture. I believe in you.

You have two choices, let the worries/problems/stress defeat you, or keep fighting and never look back.

You can do this. We can do this.

Love always,

Lucy xxx

A message from the future...

Hello humans, I am here to make contact with you from the future...
Nah, I’m just messing. However, this post has been written a few days ago. Right now, I am most likely either climbing a mountain, or sitting in a very dark corner trying to cool myself down from 40 degree Celsius weather. No, I’m not on holiday, I’m on a pilgrimage. A very scary one. So, I won’t be writing a lot this week. However, I will be back on Saturday night so I’ll try to have a few ideas conjured up for posts in between praying, climbing and burning to a crisp, ha! So I will be in touch soon. Farewell! :)

Love always,

Lucy xxx

Let’s go to the Beach-each, let’s go get away!

Helloooo everybody!

I do apologise for not uploading new posts and videos recently, but things have been a little stressful lately as, because of final year exams, my anxiety flared up worse than ever. But, thanks to my local GP, the lovely people at the clinic, and most importantly - my family, I’m okay again. :)

A few weeks ago, before my exams begun, myself, my mum and two of my aunties went to the beach for the day. I’ve vlogged all about it on my YouTube channel here if you want to check it out!

We left my house at around 10am and arrived at the beach at roughly 11:30am, where we were met by one of the coldest, sandiest, gusts of wind I’ve ever had to endure. But it was SO much fun, which I put down to the company I was with!

I took some snaps whilst I was there as well, have a little nosy at those below. :)

How cute is that little waterfall?! <3

And there you have it! My time at the beach documented in pictures. I thoroughly hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to leave comments, I’ll reply as soon as I can :)

Love always,

Lucy xxx

Spring (well, err, Summer) cleaning!

Hello chums!

Cleaning. Let’s admit it, it’s not the most fun thing to do. But, my bedroom/filming room was suffering from severe neglect. So, instead of sitting about saying “I reeeeeally need to do something about this room.” I got up of my a** and done something about it (excuse my language). Have a little nosy at the disgraceful state of my room before the clean-up!

And tadaaaaaaaaaa!My room after the clean-up! :)

Also, just because you’re awesome, have a sneak peek at my new project in the picture below. It’s a photo wall that will be full of all the happy memories I have, and will have, so that when I’m having a bit of a bad day I can look at all the amazing times I’ve had and not do something stupid.

Thanks for reading!

Did this inspire you to maybe clean up a room? Or create a photo wall?

Love always, Lucy

xxx

Get fit with me - Week 1!

Helloooooooooo you lovely, jubbly people!

So as I said in my previous post, I am starting a new feature here on my blog and over on my YouTube channel, called “Get Fit With Me,”and today is the first week, wowza! This feature aims to help me lose weight and get fitter, because boy am I unfit. I will be documenting my weight loss journey over on my YouTube channel and hopefully this might inspire some of you to become more active or eat healthier, or maybe you’ll just want to be a little nosey and see what I do every week... Anyhoo, below is the menu for this week!

NOTE: **Silly me forgot to take some pictures of all my meals (guess I’m just not cut out to be an Instagram “white girl”). However, I do have some pictures so I will insert them where I can :)**

Monday
Breakfast:
Fresh fruit salad (with your own selection of fruits)
Herbal tea

Lunch:
Meat salad (again put as little or as many ingredients as you like in it!)
Pint of water

Dinner:
Jacket potato with tuna, red onion, sweetcorn and a teaspoon of fat-free mayo
Small side salad
Pint of water

Tuesday
Breakfast:
Cereal of choice (try to avoid sugary cereals as they contain the most fats)
Herbal tea

Lunch:
Bagel with small amount of margarine and ham (feel free to customise!)
Pint of water

Dinner:
Large salad
Pint of water

Wednesday
Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs and one slice of toast (preferably brown bread - healthier!)
Green tea

Lunch:
Jacket potato with beans and cheese
Pint of water

Dinner:
Dry fried chicken stir-fry with noodles
Pint of water

Thursday
Breakfast:
Fresh fruit salad
Green tea

Lunch:
Bagel with lettuce, ham, onion and cheese
Pint of water

Dinner:
Roast chicken dinner with small amount of gravy and lots of vegetables
Pint of water

Friday
Breakfast:
Tea and two slices of wholemeal toast with small amount of red jam

Lunch:
Salad and two wholemeal crackers
Pint of water

Dinner:
Spaghetti bolognese with side salad
Pint of water

Saturday (treat day - yipee!)
Breakfast:
Coco pops
Mixed berries tea

























Lunch:
Tuna and onion wholemeal sandwich with mixed leaves salad
Pint of water

Dinner:
Chicken goujons and chips with tomato sauce
Pint of water

Sunday
Breakfast:
Fruit salad
Green tea

Lunch:
Toasted bagel with margarine
Pint of water

Dinner:
Roast beef, vegetables, potatoes and small amount of gravy
Pint of water

Like I said, I stupidly forgot to take pictures of all my meals but I will have this done for next week!

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps. Please leave me a comment below, I‘d love to hear from you guys!

Love always, Lucy

xxx

Starting something new...

*High School Musical singalong everybody!* “This could be the staaaaaart of something neeeew”

Ahem, back to business.

This is quite a serious topic to write a blog post on, but I don’t like seriousness, so I’ll make it a little more light-hearted. :)

I am overweight. This is a well-known fact for both myself and my family and friends. Heck, even strangers know this. I am not in denial about my weight. However, I am also not happy with my weight. I would like to be skinnier. Please note that I want to be skinnIER, not skinnY. There is a difference.

I’ve been overweight for 90% of my life, I don’t remember being thinner than I am now. Although, I can barely remember what happened last week... So I’ve decided to do something about it. I am going on a “healthy eating regime” a.k.a, a diet.

I know for a fact that every single one of us, male or female, has something that they don’t like about their appearance, or something they wish to change about themselves physically. If someone says that their body is flawless, they’re either lying, or they are a stuck up bitch. Now, I’m not condoning the idea that everyone has to be a size 0 to be beautiful. But what I am saying, is that YOU are in charge of your own happiness. Personally, I don’t care what number is on the dress label, or what figure shows up on the scales, as long as I’m happy with what I look like, then the rest is irrelevant.

So, what this post is about, is me becoming happier and more confident in myself. Maybe you’ll want to come on this journey with me, maybe you won’t. Either way is fine. :)

Every Sunday (giving nothing terrible happens) I will be posting the future week’s meal plan and exercise regime. Also, on a set date once a month, I will be posting how much weight I have lost in that month.

I am so excited about this new idea and I hope this helps at least one person, because then it will all be worth it.

Feel free to leave any comments on what you think of this idea!

Love always, Lucy

xxx

My first haul!

Hello everyone!

Sorry it’s been a while but since it’s my final year in school things are a little hectic. But in this time, I’ve had the opportunity to purchase a “few” things which brings upon this post. The haul of hauls.

So as you may or may not know, it was my 18th birthday a couple of weeks ago and it seems like my family and friends know me very well indeed as I basically got a ton of Disney stuff (thaaaaaanks Fiona <3), lots of photo frames (thanks Maria and mum and dad!) and make up. Lots of makeup. This post is a collective haul of products that I’ve either bought or received as a gift. Anything that has been given to me as a gift will be identified with a *.

So here’s the bag of stuff that I got. (Keep in mind that I have a double bed so this bag is quite big hahaha)

And here is everything out of the bag! Have a scroll through the pics to have a little nosey at what I got :)

 Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation in 100 Ivory

Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer in 010 Ivory

Rimmel Natural Bronzer in 021 Sunlight

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate lipstick in 111 Kiss of Life

Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara in 001 Black *free because I spent over £10 on Rimmel products*

Urban Decay Urbanglow cream highlight in Sin

Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation in shade 3.5 *gift*

Urban Decay Naked2 eyeshadow palette *gift*

 Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour in Lovechild

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Smog *free as I bought two UD products (Super Saturated lip colour and Cream highlight)*

MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NW13 *bought with a gift voucher*

MAC Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo *bought with a gift voucher*

bareMinerals Original Foundation in Fairly Light N10

Champneys Spa Treatment watermint body scrub and watermint lotion spritz

Champneys Spa Indulgence mini pack *free when you spend over £10 on Champney products*

Chocolate and Strawberry Soufflé face masks

Floral and striped patterned sunglasses

Vintage jewellery organiser *gift*

I am suuuuper excited to share these products with you guys! They are from GADI and Jericho and they specialise in beauty treatments made naturally with salts and extracts from the Dead Sea. They work amazingly well on my skin which surprised me a lot since I have quite sensitive skin, so I’m very happy. Also, these items are on great offers at the minute. If you buy two manicure sets, the second is half price. If you buy a salt or a butter, you get a salt or a butter free! Who doesn’t love a bargain, eh? ;)

This is the manicure set from GADI. It includes a professional nail file, nail buffer block, cuticle oil and hand lotion. After using this set my nail looked and felt great. It was like I was wearing a clear nail polish, they were so smooth and shiny!

This is the Aromatic Body Scrub from Jericho which is my favourite product from the brand. It’s a sea salt exfoliator that smells gorgeous - I got the Kiwi scented one but you can also get coconut. It really opens up your pores and cleanses your skin completely and gives it a lovely glow :)

This is the body butter that works with the exfoliator. Again, you can get it in coconut but I opted for kiwi because it smells so fresh and vibrant. It really moisturises the skin and I’m told these two products, if you use them one to two times per week, should last for about a year. I love this body butter because it makes my skin feel like silk and I can tell it’s moisturising further down than the first two layers of skin, which is great!

Another product I bought from Jericho was the exfoliating facial mask. I have high hopes for this product as I’ve seen how well the manicure set, body scrub and body butter work and I love them. I have only used this once as it is recommended that you should only use it once every two weeks and I only purchased all of these products yesterday. I’ll let you guys know what my verdict is in due course.

The final product I received from Jericho was, in fact, a freebie as I bought so many products (oops...). This is a Dead Sea Black Mud soap. Now, I’m not gonna lie, this smells repulsive - but that’s because it’s made completely from natural products...and it’s mud. This is really good for taking off makeup as it’s really gentle on the skin. Also, it cleanses the skin and helps banish those blasted blackheads! 

I’d like to thank any brands that actually did give me discounts or freebies because it was really nice to receive something that isn’t complete crap :)

Also, thank you so much to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents and cards and ahhh! I was so overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and I must admit, I did shed a little tear that night when I was in bed. I’m so grateful to have such amazing family and friends <3

Thanks for reading and if you actually read all of this than give yourself a pat on the back, you champ :)

I’ll be posting swatches and mini reviews on my twitter and instagram, so feel free to follow me there!

Twitter: @LucyMagsMcKenna

Instagram: @lucy_mags

Love always, Lucy

xxx