HAppy HaLLOween!

HAppy HaLLOween!

I am a  voodoo doll by the way (if you
were wondering)

Heeeyyy!! Happy Halloween people! How is Halloween doing for you, going to Halloween parties?, rotting your teeth away with sweets from trick or treating? or just sat watching a spooky movie? Apologies for anyone who has already had Halloween (at least I think that happens in some countries...) Anyway, basically I have decided to put up a Halloween post about linked to the celebration of Halloween, even though me and my family don't actually celebrate it much. But what I really wanted to do was to just put out a small message to all you reading this and wish you all a Happy Halloween (although it's already seven twenty nine here in the UK...opps haha) This is a short post and I am just saying have fun on Halloween and if you don't celebrate it then that's totally fine but for those of you who do and even those of you who love Halloween, have a happy Halloween (we use this time of year to get lots of cheap sweets and cakes sold for Halloween mawhahah! ;) )

My Halloween make-up, I tried ok haha

I decided to actually do my make-up for Halloween, despite the fact that I am just stuck indoors on my laptop ha. My friend did her make-up and I have to say Georgie, it was pretty awesome and cool and that inspired me to actually 'decorate' my face for Halloween. Maybe we should all try something different, sure covering your face in black extreme make-up isn't the only different thing you can do (I wanted to do it because I have never dressed up for Halloween) but it's just an example :) Sorry this isn't my normal post about how I fail at life (in a amusing way) or what I have been up to but I just wanted to say have a good time everyone, what ever you're doing :) Oh by the way, I will be posting something up very soon so watch out :)

Byyyeeee! (don't look under the bed, the bed will eat you ;) )

Hobbies | Do What Makes You Happy

Hobbies | Do What Makes You Happy

I'm feeling in the mood for a bit of a thoughtful and reflective moment and feel like sharing my thoughts and opinions with you and a bit more about me; so here goes. What makes me happy, even for just an hour or two minutes? My hobby. Dance: Ballet and Tap. Why does it make me happy? Because I love dance. There's nothing more satisfying when you master a new hard step or routine. When you are successful and in my case, when you finally get that one hard routine in Tap that requires so much co-ordination. The step that involves soo many shuffle ball changes heel clicks across the room and pick-ups  followed by yet more shuffles where you have to move backwards by 'hopping' and it is just so fast, it's mind boggling! But I still love it because after all that practice and frustration it has finally payed off.

Yes I know the ribbons supposed to be
 tucked in but at the time I hadn't cut them
(p.s these shoes were in the process of being
broken in which is why the shoes isn't 'moulded'
to my foot)

Same goes for Ballet, my favourite out of the two styles of dancing that I do. I just love that feeling when you realise you are finally able to do four pirouettes and land perfectly, on pointe when you just started and worked so hard building up the strength in your feet and ankles to do that one hard step or move. Again, all that hard work has finally payed off. This is why dance makes me happy and why I love it. It made me so happy when I achieved those hard routines and steps listed above, as I had to spend quite some time building up the strength in my feet and ankles and just in general, in order for me to finally take on the steps that for someone who had just started pointe work, were hard. It was hard to learn to get used to having to balance, be aware of your feet and surroundings and make the steps run smoothly and look effortless, all whilst on your toes. But that's what this field of dance is about and it's what I enjoy doing. It's this feeling of achievement that just makes dance so worth while for me, the feeling of success as you have understood and mastered that one step, routine or exercise and the feeling of happiness as you have achieved a goal and can continue to do what you love to do; which in my case is my hobby.

My first pointe shoes, they look
soo new shiny! :0 Grisko Triumphs

I have been dancing for about eight coming up to nine years and started quite late compared to those in my class who are all two years and more younger than me. I have never seen myself actually dancing so I have no idea if I am 'great' at it but it's my hobby and I love it and that's that. You should never let anything or anyone stop you from doing something that you love to do (as long as it is a positive thing and not negative in any way), even if you are not the best or need just a bit more practise etc.

I am not a professional either as it is just a hobby of mine, but one that I love to do and take part in and get so happy about when I have success involving dance. For example, in Ballet I just managed to do fouettes  one day when I was originally practising my spotting* . I managed to do four before I stopped and realise "Ahhh you just did four fouettes! Sure they were a bit untidy but hey there's always time to practise but still you did it and you find that they are quite hard to do whilst balancing and spinning around" (for those of you who don't do dance and have no idea as to what I am talking about, there's definitions at the bottom of the post :/ )

One of the moments in my life that I feel most happy is when I walk into the dance studio for my dance lesson after a long day spent at school (soon to be college) It gives me a chance to forget about everything else for an hour and enjoy myself. You should do what makes you happy (as long as it's not bad or destructive) You only have one life to live, so you should live it well and happy. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something because " Your not good enough" , "You lack the skill to do it" or simply because "You don't follow the rhythm" etc.

This is what I decided to talk about, to say to people do what makes you happy as I do dance which makes me happy. Only you know what makes you happy so go ahead and use that knowledge. Thank you, byyeee!  :)

(some definitions for dance names or terms that I have mentioned above and you may not have understood)
*Pointe shoes- also known as toe shoes, dancers doing advanced Ballet dance wearing these shoes that allow then to dance on the toes.
*Pirouette- a full turn of the body on the point of the toe or ball of the foot.
*Fouette/s- a quick whipping movement of the raised leg in Ballet usually accompanying a pirouette.
*Spotting- a technique used by dancers during the execution of various dance turns, aiming to attain constant orientation of the dancers head and eyes to the extent possible in order to enhance the dancers control and prevent dizziness.
*Shuffle/s-combined two brushes of the foot forward and backwards on the floor.
*Pick up/s-standing on the ball of the foot, jump up, hitting the ground with the ball of the foot then with the heel.
*Ball change/s- two steps on alternating feet. The first step does not get alternating weight.
*Heel clicks-a step that consists of hitting the heels of the dancers shoes together whilst moving across the room. For example,step jump and click the heels together as the dancer jumps.
*Shuffle-ball-change- a shuffle followed by a ball change.

Yours Truly,
Caris

My Tips | How to Achieve Healthier Skin

My Tips | How to Achieve Healthier Skin 

Hey,

Today I'm going to share some things that I have discovered on tips and tricks for getting clearer skin. I have suffered from troubled skin since I was very young and I have used a lot of different types of skin care products in the past, and having fair skin that's sensitive, it's been hard believe me. Plus, living in Britain, the weather is never consistent, which my skin reacts to. For example one day it'll be scorching hot, making you get all hot and uncomfortable, then the next day it's tipping it down and is miserable; making you eat tonnes of unhealthy foods. Not good.
     So here's one thing that I avoid: junk food. When the weathers dull and miserable, I go in to lazy mode and before I know it I'm eating junk food in the dark sitting watching television, again. Not healthy at all. So my tip number one, avoid chocolate, it's evil I swear. When ever I eat chocolate, my skin instantly gets well... pretty bad and this happened a lot around Christmas and Easter when people give me lots of chocolate to devour. Limit the amount of chocolate products that you have can make a big difference.

As it's summer, I personally find that my fair skin tends to react to sudden changes in temperature and weather. So here is tip number two: when you're sat at home and your not actually going anywhere all day, don't wear make-up. Why? Because firstly despite the fact that make up is designed for you to perfect the look of your skin, it blocks up your pores quite a lot, especially if it's a full coverage foundation like my Collection Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Foundation (I still love this foundation though) or you have fairly oily skin like mine. Limit the amount of times that you wear a foundation like this to special occasions, going into town etc. Secondly make up is quite expensive, especially if it's one of the top brands, so you might as well save it and it saves you having to put effort in to purchasing more when it's gone.

Fourth tip, increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Although eating healthier isn't completely proven to vanish all your spots, as everyone is different and for some people breakouts can be caused by other factors; it will help with the healing process that your skin goes through when you have breakouts. Plus eating a healthy balanced diet is recommended because it's good for your health in general. Fruits like blueberries are great. They're full of vitamin C and have antioxidant properties, which is thought to strengthen your immune system and help repair tissue,  useful for when you get breakouts.

Now eating healthy is hard, and took me a while to get used to it when I was trying to improve my skin for prom, but it worked and the amount of breakouts that I had reduced. It turns out that I actually love blueberries and a fruit or berry mix with cream is so nice. It's easy to prepare and is delicious :) I commonly have grapes, strawberries, blueberries, apple, raspberries and blackberries with cream, a random mix but theses are some of my favourite fruits. Why not try out smoothies and pure fruit juices too, but not too many as excessive amounts are pretty bad for the enamel on your teeth and can stain them ( got this from my sister who's a dental nurse and is always nagging me about drinking too much fruit juice ). Try a smoothie three times a week for example and pure fruit juice like orange in the mornings. 

Sleep! Getting more hours of sleep at night and not staying up too late helps a lot. This is because when you have a lack of sleep, you can get easily stressed as your body works harder due to it having less energy. This is why you are also more likely to get colds etc with a bad sleeping routine as your body is stressed due to lack of sleep. Plus more sleep =happier you.

Drink more! Water is a good thing, it cleanses your body and removes  impurities and toxins from your body. If you don't like water like me (yes im unusual) try adding a bit of fruit juice to the water. Then when you drink it, it'll taste nice and you will actually be able to drink it and not feel sick (happens to me as I have never liked drinking water alone)

There you have it, a few of my tips about skin care that I personally find useful and worth a try :) Hope this was helpful.

Yours truly,
Caris

Simple Revision Tips | Revising for Exams & Coping with Exam Pressure

Simple Revision Tips | Revising for Exams & Coping with Exam Stress

Every one experiences exams and exam pressure, but for those who haven't yet and soon will, it can be hard to know what to do and how to cope when it's so over whelming and new to you. I know this feeling, I've recently finished my GCSE exams this year, so thought I would share some simple tips and ideas on how to cope at this busy time of in your life.

So many subjects, so little time! My revision books for GCSE

When it comes to revision, everyone knows that it's not the best thing and most interesting way to spend your time on; it will be worth it. First things first though, make sure you have all the textbooks, resources and equipment that you need in order to revise fully and properly and be successful in your exams. No one likes to find out in the exam that they studied the wrong topics or sections or haven't got a calculator in the maths calculator exam. Ask your teachers to be sure you have all that you need and know what you need to revise and go out and buy any needed resources or equipment.

Time management is key when revising, create a revision timetable to help you, placing subjects that are vital to achieve a pass in more often, and optional subjects at other times. Ask a parent or friend to help you create a good revision timetable. Start your revision early, don't leave it to the last minute. I started my revision around early February, for my exams in May. Early I know, but I like to be organised and it did help when exams where two weeks away and I had finished my notes for some of my subjects.

One simple tip that I suggest using and trying out, is when revising move yourself away from any distractions. Turn off your laptop or  phone to stop yourself from getting distracted. After all, your friends will most likely be trying to and should be revising so it's less likely that you will get a text or notification on your phone informing you on something. This may sound easy, but I always have my phone on 24/7 and when revising I found it hard to ignore my phone's blinking light saying "pick me up, you've got a message" . I've even been forced to turn it off and put it in another room because I couldn't stop my self from going on it. Sad or what? 

Another tip I suggest is find out what method of revision suits you best. Some people prefer to listen to music whilst revising, though I get distracted and bless everyone in the house and around it with my terrible singing. Others prefer to revise in silence like me, as it makes it easier to concentrate and not get distracted. Highlighting key points, facts and information in text books or in your note book can help, as they allow you to pick out the key notes and remember them. Writing down notes from text books whilst revising can be useful, and this is my preferred method of revision.

Revision snacks and drinks to keep you going are a good idea. Whilst revising, it's important to eat the right foods and stay hydrated so that you can concentrate and stay focused for longer; therefore taking in important information that's vital for your exams. These snacks should be fairly healthy such as nuts and fruit, but you can treat yourself occasionally, like eating something sweet (Skittles the sweets are my favourite and you will always catch me eating them whilst revising) Drinks such as water to energy drinks are fine, as long as you don't drink too many high in sugar drinks, as these can damage your teeth and are generally extremely unhealthy. Have them as a reward every now and then. Don't go over board, have a variety of drinks, preferably hydrating ones such as water or high juice (if you don't like water alone like me) that requires water to be added. 

Last but not least, don't become a revision zombie. Go out with friends or simply your family for a few hours every so often. This is because you can't spend weeks and months never leaving the house, as you will soon get bored and this will distract you from revising and make it harder to revise. At the same time, don't spend every free day from school going out with friends especially if you're schools allowing study leave. In my case, I had to come into school to attend revision sessions until the next school term started where I would then be finishing off my exams.

A key piece of advice, stay positive. I struggled with maths in school and would always think negatively of myself, and this would show in my performance. Be positive say to yourself " You can do this, you've worked hard and deserve the grade you want. You can do this" it does help, especially in those exams that just seem so hard and impossible. I hope that these tips will help you as they've helped me and I wish you the best of luck for what you are revising. Good luck!

Yours truly,
Caris