Hello Bloggerbeans,

I hate being stressed! It's the worst feeling in the world when you have a million things to do with the majority of them having to be completed for the next day which leaves you with hardly any time to do these said things in. You just feel like at any moment you are going to explode into a big ball of stress, frustration and anxiety. It's important to take a step back from things every once in a while and just give yourself some time to unwind and de-stress. Down below are a list of things that help me with my anxiety and help to calm and de-stress me and trust me when I tell you how much happier and in control of situations I now feel thanks to these things :)

ASMR - If you don't know what ASMR is then go watch Dodie Clark's video HERE as its hard to explain without it sounding really creepy and weird when it is not that at all. Done? ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and is quite a big thing. I find it very calming and listen to Dodie's video along with others to help me sleep. A couple of my favourite ASMR people are SpringBok and Hailey WhisperingRose as their voices instantly make me feel relaxed and sleepy.

Yoga - When I went to London With my Chummy Amelia, We ended up buying Yoga Mats as they were going for only £2 in Primark and we thought why not? I can definitely tell you that was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I know I'm an amateur when it comes to all these yoga poses however just the motion of doing these movements accompanied with deep breathing instantly helps to clear and focus my mind.  I normally Listen to a Band called Sleeping At Last as their music is so soothing to listen to with my favourite song being Atlas Light.

Walks - Sometimes all you need is a good old walk out in the open air to help clear your mind. I find the fresh air helps me to think about where life is taking me at the moment and if I am on the right metaphorical path in life which is making me happy.

Lush Baths - This is possibly one of my favourite pick me up activity's as it helps to put me in a better mood and helps to soak your problems away. Pop your chosen Lush Bath bomb / Bath oil into the bath (Or crumble your lush bubble bar) in the warm water and grab your laptop to either play some soothing music, watch YouTube videos or even catch up on your favourite Tv show. Pure bliss!

Reading a Good Book - I find that losing myself in a good book helps me to forget some of my worries for a bit. If your stuck for reading material ideas I recently Just finished my Book Review Monday series for the second time where I reviewed some of my latest and favourite reads from the past couple of months. I love to get emotionally invested in the characters lives and sometimes forget that I'm even reading!

I hope these tips help and be sure to tell me down in the comments what you do to help you calm your anxiety.

Toodlepip x

~ Katy Summers

Hello Bloggerbeans,

Today is the last Book Review Monday for a while now. I have really enjoyed telling you about my latest reads and I am sure that I will be doing Booktober this October.

Today's review is on If I Stay by Gayle Forman. If I Stay is about a girl called Mia and her family. Mia is a phenomenal Celloist who applies for a place at the Julliard School of music however when her family embark on a car trip after a heavy downpour of snow, things turn nasty as her family car is caught in a car crash. Mia ends up falling into a coma like state however straight after the car accident starts to have out of body experiences. Mia can see everything that's happening around her however no one can hear her or knows she's there. She now has to decide if she stays or go's and if she could cope with what has happened to her and her family.

If I stay is told in lots of flashbacks and tells of the events that happened up until the crash and during her stay in hospital. Gayle Forman's writing is very impressive as she manages to weave from present day events effortlessly into memories and  helps the reader to get to know Mia.

If I Stay has also been made into a film which I  watched before reading the book and I have to say the film does the book justice with Mia being played by Chlöe Grace Mortez who fantastically captures who Mia is. 

I felt that in some respects I could connect with Mia in the sense that she is different in her family. While Mia loves classical music and plays the Cello, her dad and mum were on the rock/punk scene along with Mia's younger brother Teddy preferring to listen to Punk than Mia's favourite composer Yo Ma Ma. 

If I stay is one of those books where with every page you learn who and what the characters stand for and why when it comes down to Mia deciding to Stay or go, it takes her a while to figure out what she should do.

If I Stay is in Paperback and can be purchased from Amazon for £3.85 HERE

Toodlepip x

Products in picture order:

Karma Bubble Bar - £4.25

The Sun Bath Melt (Exclusive to Oxford street) - £2

Floating Island Bath Melt - £2

Comforter Bubble Bar - £4.75

Honey Bee Bath Bomb - £3.35

Frozen Bath Bomb (Exclusive to Oxford street) - £3.75

So far I have used the Honey Bee Bath Bomb which turned my water an amazing shade of yellow and I can't wait to use the rest of the products I brought. I will definitely have to go back soon as I was recommended their face masks but with all those Lush Bath orientated products in my basket already, I didn't have enough money to buy some. Make sure to come back Monday for the final post of book Review Monday month.

Toodlepip x

~ Katy Summers

Hello Bloggerbeans,

Resilience is something that we all need in life. Without it we would all give up and never achieve our dreams of being amazing, unique human beings! (And lets face it, we all have the potential to achieve great things if we put our minds to it!). If you are a regular reader of my blog then you may have read a post I wrote on being Determined to keep your New years resolutions which you can read HERE if you haven't and are intrigued (I hope you kept them!) where I talked about setting realistic goals you know you have chance at keeping and to think about your end goal. Resilience is very similar in determination in the sense that you need to just keep swimming!

Recently I have been trying to find jobs however after 2 unsuccessful rejected applications felt like maybe I should give up as 'It seems like no one wants to hire me and that perhaps I should just throw in the towel' until I had a pep talk with myself and decided that I shouldn't be dwelling on those rejected applications. Yes I got rejected but it is in the past meaning I should forget and move on to the next amazing opportunity and apply all my energy and focus in the upcoming application.

Getting knocked down and rejected is all part of building up your resilience. It is what you do next that makes you who you are as getting up, brushing off the rejection and jumping head first back into that metaphorical pool of opportunities without a knock in your confidence is what you should be aiming for each time. It will take some well earned practice in learning how to not let it get to you but you will get there. It took me forever to not take rejection personally, especially in things like drama productions and singing parts in choir. I needed to know that things do change and not to take it to heart if my part is cut, or dropped at the last minute. 

I hope this advice was helpful and that you you may have a different perspective on things and may even give yourself your own mini pep talk. I BELIEVE IN YOU!

Toodlepip x

UPDATE: After writing this post a couple of days later I received a phone call from one of the Jobs I had applied to saying they wanted to arrange a face to face interview! Good things do come to those who are resilient and keep on trying to achieve their goal. Wish me luck! x

~Katy Summers

Hello Bloggerbeans!,

Louise day arrived and I am still very giddy with happiness from it (Oh me, oh my!). It was possibly a day I will look back on with lots of lovely memories. I blogged the day while Amelia vlogged it meaning we both have lots of footage and pictures to remind us of the awesome day we had.

The day started off as any other day however I had to be up early as our train left the station at 9:45 meaning it was a 6am start for me! I was so excited that I didn't get much sleep the night before but that didn't matter as I was v. excited to be meeting Louise. I decided to wear a 'Louise style' skirt and paired it up with a baby pink top and key pendant which was from Avon along with some gold glittery shoes. I also wore a skin coloured cardigan as it was going to be a warm day. I decided to just do my usual makeup routine and went for one of my light pink lipsticks again from Avon.

Please may I be allowed to have more amazing days like this with friends as this is the year I do more things that make me happy. Oh how 2015 is becoming one of the best years so far.

Life with a Sprinkleofglitter can be purchased at all well known book stores and at amazon for £4.99 HERE. :)

Toodlepip x

~Katy Summers

Hello Bloggerbeans,

Book Review Mondays are back again! (Woohoo!). If you didn't know, I did this series in January for a whole month (One book review uploaded on the Monday of that week) however due to internet problems ended up finishing the series the first week of Febuary. I love to read and have a serious passion for losing myself in a good book so I am really excited to share 4 reviews of the recent books I have read in between writing the last series of Book Review Mondays and hope that I inspire you to read one of the books I review or just to read in general.

This week's review is of a book Called 'All The Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven and is about a boy named Theodore Finch who finds himself  about to jump from the top of his school's bell tower however is stopped when he see's a girl named Violet on the ledge as well. They both persuade the other to stick with things causing them from the moment forward to share a unique and different bond as they embark on their shared school project of researching the 'Natural wonders' of their states. When news in their school spreads that they were on top of the bell tower, Violet is hailed for saving Finch even though it was the other way round.

They both have their individual problems and together they save themselves however sometimes you need to let go of the past, which proves a little difficult for one of them than the other. Violet has trouble of letting go of the past and what happened to her sister and is finding it hard to accept that no matter how hard she tried to be her, she will never be and just needs to find herself. Finch on the other hand is fighting his own battles as he is fixating on the idea of death, however is stopped every time something good happens, no matter how small. With Finch around, Violet starts to learn to stop counting the days till graduation and start living in the moment and with Violet around, Finch starts to have a purpose in living. But as Violet world grows, finch's world shrinks.

Violets self discovery of herself throughout the book struck a chord with me as I felt like in some aspects I could relate to her as she slowly learnt to accept the bad things that happened to her sister and learnt to move on from that with the help of Finch.

Throughout the book, Finch's and Violets adventures are a recurring theme with the book being written in both finch's and Violets points of views. When reading this book though be prepared to have tissues by your side as it is an emotional roller coaster all the way through. All The bright Places was an uplifting and heartbreaking novel of the strength and courage of getting through the dark days.

Zoella recently mentioned 'All The Bright Places' in her June Favourites which you can view HERE 

Toodlepip x

~ Katy Summers

Hello Bloggerbeans,

I am a little behind with posting so to make up for the lack of no posts last week, I'm going to upload two posts instead of one today. (Go Blogging!)

Foundation is a staple item in anyone's Makeup collection so it is very crucial to find one that suites your skin type. Recently I have been loving Barry M's Makeup Collection so decided to try out their 'Flawless Matte Foundation Finish' in shade Ivory and have been loving its coverage. Compared to my No7 foundation, it blends effortlessly into my skin helping to hide those pesky blemishes and unlike the No7 which caked, you could hardly tell that I was wearing foundation and that my face just always looked this smooth which is why it is my new favourite Foundation. It sits a lot better on my face and even though I have been wearing it for a month now, it has given me a lot of confidence in going out and holding my head up high as my blemishes leave me feeling a tad self conscious in myself. Barry M is soon becoming my favourite brand <3

What foundation is your favourite BloggerBeans and what would you love to see reviewed next? 

The Barry M 'Flawless Foundation can be brought from Superdrug HERE for £5.99

Toodlepip x

~Katy Summers

Hello BloggerBeans,

I know I didn't post last week however life matters got in the way. For a start I had my college induction day and had so much fun with all the people of my course who love drama just as much as I do however I do have a good reason why I haven't posted as I was getting ready for something which you can probably tell by the title of this blog post.

Okay, so this happened yesterday...

Photo Booth
Katie and I

The fireworks at the end of the night

Prom was quite possibly the best night of my life and I wish all the people in my year group the best going into the future. This is the end of a huge chapter in my life which I'm glad to be leaving and moving on from as I turn towards a new chapter of my life of being a more accepting person of myself and others and discovering what life has to offer.

Toodlepip x

~Katy Summers