Favourite Book at the Moment

One of my goals over the summer is to read more books, considering I have about 120 in my bookcase and have read about 30 of them. I know, I'm terrible. I'm the kind of person who will either finish a book in a day, or will take months.

Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell is an absolute gem, This book took me about 4 months to read, even though I completely loved it (I just got lazy). It's set in the 80's and revolves around Eleanor, a red headed girl living in an abusive home, and Park, a half korean comic book nerd. It's your typical teen romance style book, but the characters are absolutely amazing and I actually kind of want to read it again. I finished this a couple of weeks ago, and started reading another of Rainbow Rowell's books, Fangirl. I'm also loving that.

What is your favourite book at the moment? Let me know!

See you soon!
Katie xo

Healthy & Happy

This is quite a personal post for me, but I want my blog to be somewhere where I can express myself, whether that be about beauty and fashion, or about other things.
I have struggled with my weight for about 13 years (since I was 4). I got bullied and called names, my own stepmother said I had a "fat ass". My parents constantly said "I wish you would lose weight" and, although I realise now that they were concerned about my health rather than the way I looked, it really affected my confidence. Boys in the year above me used to call me 'Eighty Stone' (my name is Katie Stone for those of you who don't know), and by this time I brushed the name calling off like it was nothing, but it has still stuck with me four years down the line. I have tried Weight Watchers, and failed, tried nothing and just complained, and then tried Slimming World. I lost 2 stone and was starting to become really happy with myself, although I was no where near my goal body. I then put it all back on, and then some, and now I'm completely miserable with the way I look, and it's time to make a change for good.

An awful lot of people struggle with self esteem and body issues, and the media doesn't help with that in anyway. Models are photoshopped and celebrities go on crash diets and get all sorts of cosmetic surgery. I know that practically every image you see of a celebrity or a model has been manipulated, so it's easier for me to ignore them, but it's people that I see in real life who have amazing bodies and gorgeous hair and really lovely makeup that knock my confidence even more. These people probably struggle with themselves too, and people may see me and think "I wish I had her bla bla bla" but I am just not happy with myself. Some things are easy to change, like the colour of my hair, the way I do my makeup, my clothes etc, but my body is another matter. I need to lose an awful lot of weight to become "healthy", but honestly, it's more about the size for me. I dropped 2 dress sizes before, and now none of my clothes fit me properly because I put all the weight back on again. Ideally, I'd like to lose 4-5 dress sizes, and have a flat stomach. For some of you, this may sounds completely impossible and you may be thinking that I should just try and accept myself, but people have lost more weight than I want to, and achieved flat stomachs after being severely overweight too. I will too. 

I am not healthy. I am not happy. I want to be able to go into a shop and choose whatever item of clothing I want without feeling stupid. I want to be able to wear nice underwear and not feel like my body is ruining it completely. I want to be able to wear dresses without my thighs chaffing and I want to accept myself. Everyone could see a major difference when I had lost weight. I was becoming extremely happy and proud of myself, and I just looked brighter. 

Today I woke up and had chocolate for breakfast. That's not the kind of person I want to be. I want to be the kind of person who goes running and eats gloriously healthy meals, while still treating myself to some cake if I want it. Don't get me wrong, I don't glorify anorexia or binging or starving yourself or eating disorders or anything like that. If you're happy with your body, no matter what it looks like, and you're healthy, then that is all that matters. I just need to have a flat stomach to be happy with myself. 

I'm not doing this so I can get attention from boys, I have an amazing boyfriend who loves me the way I am, and I'm not doing this for my family, because they love me and think I'm beautiful too. I'm not doing it for the masses of people that bullied me over my weight (although it will be nice to rub it in their faces), I'm doing it for me. I'm doing it because I want to wear tight clothes and I want to be healthy and be able to go running and enjoy my food without feeling guilty. 

I want to start taking Slimming World seriously, and start eating healthily. I need to eat less chocolate and sweets, especially since I have braces and I'm not meant to be eating sugary foods at all. I want to join a gym, or some sort of Zumba style class, which my friend wants to do with me, and I want to become the best possible me. I started today by creating an inspiration board on my bedroom door, filled with motivational quotes and images of people who have lost weight and have my 'goal body'. I'm going to start using my Plant Nanny app religiously, starting right now, and I'm going to follow my Slimming World plan as closely as possible. 

The point of this post is pretty much to have written documentation of my goals and for me to refer back to each week. I want to write a new post each week, which will show how my week has gone and if I have lost any weight. If you guys want to get healthy with me, feel free to leave comments or message me on Twitter (here) and I'll be happy to share the journey with you. 
Sorry if this post was a little downhearted or not what you were expecting, but I really need to do this for me. Thinking I can do it is good, but won't keep me going. If it's on my blog, I'll be reminded of what I want to achieve everyday.

See you soon!
Katie xo

Saturday's Celebrity Styles - Zendaya

For this Saturday's fave style inspiration, I'm going with Zendaya. She is a complete fashion beast, and looks completely flawless no matter what she's wearing or what her hair looks like. She rocks the dreads, the curls and the crop and fringe. I literally cannot get over how gorgeous this girl is, and she's only 18!

Her yellow dress compliments her skin tone perfectly, and paired with the bright blue heels, creates a fierce looks whilst still being very feminine. The bright pink suit is also amazing, and I'm undecided whether she looks better in suits or dresses. Both. Both is good. She also rocks the simple jeans and tshirt combo, just like the rest of us.

These outfits literally took my breath away. Would you just look at her hair at the Kids Choice Awards 2015?! She looks like a modern Cleopatra! Her skirt is so chic and really summery, and I definitely need to find a match! She captured the oriental theme brilliantly, with the absolutely phenomenal skirt and the gorgeous low cut top, which definitely shows off her feminine figure. Her style at the Oscars was also to die for, and although she got ridiculed for her hair (her comeback totally slayed) she still looks completely gorgeous. The simple earrings and white dress are really complimentary, and although all the elements of this outfit are quite simple, she still manages to look like a million pounds. You go, Zendaya!

What do you guys think of Zendaya's fashion? And do you guys like my Celebrity Styles posts? Let me know!

See you soon!

Katie xo

Mini Haul & Review

Hiya lovelies!

I thought I'd show you a couple of things that I bought the other day and just do a tiny review on each of them, so here we go..

First up is Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I've seen so many people raving about this product, and I saw it was quite cheap and decided to give it go, considering so many people like it. I've only actually used this product twice, but I feel it works super well. It left my face feeling really clean and fresh, which is so lovely to go to sleep with, and I think it smells quite nice too. I use this before I cleanse, tone, and moisturise, and it feels amazing. It's probably not the best makeup remover in the world, but for the small price tag, it certainly does the trick. The great thing about this is that it's suitable for sensitive skin, so everyone can use it.

I have been looking for a facial exfoliator for a while, but I didn't want to spend too much money before getting paid, and so I went for cheapest one I could find (totally not the way to go in the beauty world). I picked up this Pro Formula Brightening Face Scrub from Tesco, and I actually quite like it. It was really cheap, and although I've only used this once, it has definitely made a difference to my skin. My makeup has gone on a lot smoother and stayed on my face without becoming flaky throughout the day, which is basically all I wanted. The particles are really tiny so it doesn't feel like sandpaper on your face. It also smells amazing (grapefruit and cranberry mmm) and it has vitamin C so it's super good for your skin! Yay!

Lastly, I picked up a little candle. This was only £1 from Tesco's and it smells really lovely. It's not too strong or overpowering and I'm hoping it smells nice while it's burning too. They had a pink, green, and red candle too, all with different. It's called 'Blue Exotic Crush', and I think that name matches it perfectly. What's your favourite candle?

See you soon!
Katie xo

Education Wisdom

It's that time of year again, where people my age, and those at school/college/university are sitting their exams for their GCSE's, A-Levels, Diplomas etc.
It's so easy to get carried away with summer and not want to revise or do anything exam related, especially if you're like me and gave up in the middle of September *guilty smile*. Today was my last day at college before having four weeks off for study leave and to sit my exams, and honestly, it was the worst day of college so far. I received my coursework grade back my media AS, and lets just say that appalled is an understatement. I almost cried, considering I wanted to study media at university, and I thought I was going to get my target grade. That is basically the reason for this post, as I just want to share some words both for myself and for you, so you don't stress over your exams or your grades.

Grades don't define you
It's so easy to let your grades ruin your life. Since I was 6 I have been told that i'm 'top of the class', 'really smart, 'capable of anything', and it has completely ruined education for me. I managed to come out of school with 2 A*'s, 5 A's and 5 B's, which when you think about it, is really really good. But those B's completely crushed my confidence. I was targeted A's for everything and I will forever regret not trying harder for those subjects. But at the end of the day, those grades don't change who I am. They don't change what I want to achieve or what I want to do or who I want to be. It's just a letter on a piece of paper reflecting how good my memory is of random knowledge and my ability to spew that knowledge onto some lined paper. In completely silence. With no other resources. That doesn't happen in the real world. You get trained and you get experience and you will always have the internet or books or people around you to help. Your grades do not define who you are or how smart you are.

Revise
I have no idea how to revise. Literally, do not have a clue. As I've always been 'smart' (in the education system's eyes) I've never needed to revise in order to get a good grade. I did little to no revision for my GCSE's and I completely regret it. I should have asked for help so I knew how to revise properly and now that I'm at college, I'm completely stuck. It's so important to revise, and start as soon as possible. Although I have little motivation when it comes to education, I always want to start revising as soon as lessons start in September. I want to be able to go to my lessons, review my notes at home and create more condensed notes to look through every now and again, rather than having to read pages and pages of some useless information. There are loads of ways to revise, and its been said that you should do 20 minutes of focused revision and try to do the best as possible, and then take a 40 minute break, rather than trying to do everything all at once. If you don't revise, you will end up panicking way more than you really need to, and may mess up on the tiniest questions or make silly mistakes that you could really have answered. Practise makes perfect.

Help with exams
Exams can be ridiculously scary. Massive, freezing cold sports halls, rows and rows of creaky little desks and horrible plastic chairs, an extremely loud clock, and an exam paper that looks like it's been written in hieroglyphics. I had a mock exam a couple of months ago, and ended up having a panic attack in the middle of it. Not fun. But, in case you don't know, you can get help with your exams. I went to my college's mental health nurse who arranged for me to have my exams in a separate classroom  so I don't become overwhelmed, and I think it may really help. You can also get extra time (usually 25%), can have a computer rather than pen and paper and probably other things. I thought you could only get these things if you were disabled in some way, but that's really not the case. It's also important to know that the people marking your exam papers know that you are under scary conditions and do take this into account, so it's never as bad as it seems.

See you soon!

Katie xo

Money, Money, Money

Hi guys!

So, I'm really super excited because I finally got a job, and I am LOVING IT. I'm a waitress in a little American Diner and the people I work for are so amazingly wonderful, I feel right at home. I get paid weekly, which, although it will make saving hard, means I can splurge on new beauty/makeup/fashion items to really get my blog going! YAY!

Source: Google Images

I get to make coffees on one of those terrifying coffee machines, and make milkshakes and stuff, as well as using the till and serving people food. I have no idea why I enjoy it so much, I guess I just feel really grown up and working a till is really fun. 

I'm really sorry that I haven't done a post in a little while, however I've been quite panicky about exams and getting some shifts in at work, so that's my poor excuse. I really love doing this blog so I really want to do regular posts and things, so hopefully I will get really into it after this week as Friday is my last day at college! Woop woop!

Here's another favourite song of mine for summer. How are you guys doing?

See you soon!
Katie xo

Saturday's Celebrity Styles - Selena Gomez

Good morning, lovelies!

I had an idea that every Saturday I could share who's fashion/beauty styles I'm really loving at the moment, or have previously loved. 
So this week, I'm focusing on the gorgeous Selena Gomez. I think Selena is a gorgeous young woman, and a really talented one at that. She's definitely one of my 'woman crushes' and I adore how she can pull of the most simple outfit and make it look really on point.

Seriously, how gorgeous is this girl? She's been a style icon of mine for years. Her outfits are so chic and they look effortless but completely stunning at the same time. I especially love her monochrome outfit - it's so flattering on her and the cool glasses and tied back hair give it a real 'video killed the radio star' feel. 

She dresses in such a way that it's easy for young girls to steal her style without spending loads of money, which is an amazing plus, and always styles her hair so beautifully!

Anyway, I hope you liked this post. It's as close to beauty/fashion as I can get with no money haha!

See you soon!

Katie xo