Liebster award!

I am very fortunate with the fact that I have been nominated for a Liebster award by the lovely Elle! Thank you so much!

The Liebster award is passed through the blogosphere as a sort of welcome. It  highlights up and coming bloggers and allows them to gain an audience that they may have not gotten without it. Essentially, It is a sort of tag with each nominee setting out ten questions for the next nominee and so forth and so forth. It really does seem like a great thing and I am very happy that I am lucky enough to be a part of it!

So, without further ado, these are the questions Elle set me:

1) What's your number one holy grail beauty product?

This would have to be my current mascara, It's by Max Factor and is supposedly an eye brightening mascara. Mine is especially for blue eyes, although I don't think it makes that much of a difference. Apparently it's all to do with light particles and I've definitely noticed that my eye lashes appear blue in the light. Anyway I love it, and you can find it here.

2) iPhone or Android?

Hmm, I'm going to have to go with iPhone. I had an android for a while and unfortunately smashed it! Overall, I just prefer the whole design of the iPhone.

3) Has blogging changed your life in anyway?

At the moment, no groundbreaking change. However, I am most defiantly writing more and looking at things in a more creative light. This is great as it is something I really love to do, and now I have an excuse to! It's also opened my eyes up to a whole new community of really lovely people. So who knows what the future could bring. (:

4) Is this your first blog? Or have you made other attempts?

this is my first blog so no other attempts. I am just learning as I go along and it has served me great so far!

5) What's your favorite season?

This is hard for me as I love different parts of each season. Even though my birthday is in winter, I will have to say summer as the warm(ish) weather makes me really productive. On top of that, I live in a seaside town and it just comes alive with tourists, activities and fun things in the summer. Saying that, who doesn't love the baby animals and pretty flowers in the spring.

6) One item of clothing/accessory you couldn't live out?

Most definitely my leather jacket from New Look. I brought It with birthday money in the winter sale and It's one of my staple pieces of clothing! It has faux sheepskin lining and is sooo warm! It's very similar to this jacket and i'd say it was my most successful purchase of 2013.

7) If you could have dinner with 5 people, dead or alive, who would it be?

This is an incredibly hard question! If I had to choose it would probably be: 1. Dougie Poynter; the bass player of Mcfly, he's a huge inspiration to me and I love his sense of humor and his face. 2.Sir David Attenborough; I could listen to him talk for ages about everything he's seen and experienced and I generally think he'd be great company.3.Prince Harry; maybe an odd choice but I think he'd be hilarious to have a conversation with! 4.Brian Cox; similarly to David Attenborough, I'd just really like to hear what he has got to say for himself and I am fascinated by space and stars etc. so he'd be really interesting to talk to. 5. Jeremy Sumpter, need I say more. You have no idea how long It took me to decide that list!

8) How do your family/friends feel about your blog?

As I have only just started out, It's not really common knowledge yet. However, my younger brother knows and he just thinks it's really cool!

9) Dogs or cats?

I am crazy cat lady. I really love dogs, but I've grown up with cats my whole life and I'd be lost without my little tabby cat, Saffron.

10)Who is your ultimate style icon?

A huge style icon for me would have to be Emma Watson. I love how beautiful she looks, even with short hair. I've always loved the look of a pixie cut however I'm too scared to cut all my hair off! So I will admire how nice it looks from afar. Plus, she always dresses amazingly. Blogger wise, Zoella is a big inspiration to me.

Thanks for the questions, they were very well thought out! Here are my Ten:

1. Who are your favorite bands/music artists?

2. If you could up root and move anywhere in the world right now, were would you go?

3. Are you currently studying? If so, what? If not, did you enjoy your education?

4. Favorite animal?

5. Who inspires/motivates you in the blogging community?

6. Where do you see your blog in 5 years?

7. Do you read often? What are your favorite books?

8. Best moment of 2013?

9. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

10.What advice can you give to those looking to start a blog?

I nominate:

Michelle

Jade

Ellie

Becki

Amy

Victoria

Adriana

I'd love to hear your responses! Please link me to your posts if you can, and carry on the tag. Thanks!

Abbie

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Animal appreciation post

The world we live in has such a variety of animals, I feel that the coolest of creatures often get left behind in popularity. Here are just a few of my favorite species and some information on what makes them special.

1.The Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis Callidryas)

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Some people may squeal and run to the trees at the sight of frogs. But I, for one, find them pretty awesome. The Red-eyed Tree Frog is most defiantly my favorite, but other frogs can do pretty weird things too. The Grey Tree frog can survive, even if it's heart stops! Glass frogs are pretty much transparent (Google it, I dare you ;))

2.Arctic Fox (Vulpes Lagopus)

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You've got to admit, these things are pretty adorable. Not only that, but throughout the seasons their fur changes colour! To suit the changing environment, in the summer, their coat turns a greyish-brown colour. And, in the winter, their coat's become a well known white.

3. Glasswinged Butterfly (Greta Oto)

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These butterfly's are pretty incredible. I feel that they sum up everything that a butterfly should be, dainty and beautiful. I was lucky enough to see these close up at the butterfly house in London zoo (If you are contemplating whether or not to immerse yourself in the heat of that room, I cannot stress how much you should go in, It's only small but so so worth it.) And these were by far my favorite butterfly's in there.

4. Jersey Cow

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Although it seems an odd choice, I personally am a sucker for cows! Their little faces hold so much personality and they're useful too! I particularly like the Jersey cow and often see them grazing around when I travel up north. Call me crazy, but I love a nice cow ;)

5. Green  Sea Turtle (Chelonia Mydas)

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I've chosen to feature Green Sea Turtles for two reasons. 1) They can only be described as gentle giants. They glide through the water, regardless of their size and weight. And, 2) I am lucky enough in that I am going to swim with wild Green Sea Turtles later on this year! I am so excited and will most defiantly document it. On another now how awesome are these!

What's your favorite species of animal?

Abbie

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If you feel good, you look good. Er..what?

Usually the other way around right? Well I personally believe it works two ways.

This morning, for what reason I don't know, I woke up feeling amazing. I had a great night sleep and was ready to seize the day! (maybe because i'm on holiday now, I don't know?)

Anyway, I felt so confident that my usual make-up routine seemed pointless to me. I all ready felt amazing, why did I need make up to boost this? The answer- I didn't.

So it got me thinking, if I felt this good everyday, would putting on make-up for confidence really be needed? I think this could be applied to everyone.

It take a lot to be comfortable in your own skin, I especially know this. After having self esteem issues in the past, I think i'm finally coming out of the other side. There was a year of my life that is completely lost in the abyss, due to the fact that I utterly refused to have my photo taken, my self confidence in what i looked like was so low.

Here are just a few things that gradually improved my confidence:

1. immersing myself in the company of friends, generally laughing more and having a good time. If your friends pick at your flaws, they're not really friends at all.

2.Shrugging it off. This applies to confidence in general, and I'm not going to lie, this took me ages to master. saying 'so what if they judge me' or when randomly embarrassed, 'i'm  never going to see them again, they can think what they like.' Just in general caring less about what others think of you.

I feel this DR. Seuss quote sums this point up pretty well.

3. Thinking of the positive, this links in with my 'good news post'. On the worst possible days, become an optimist. Look at the good things in life. If they are not obvious at first glance, search for them.

4. Pampering. This can be taken in many ways, I just like to think of it as 'me time'. Blast some music and dance while doing something like tidying, light some candles and relax in the bath, or travel and appreciate view points, sunsets etc. Learn to love yourself again.

Picking self esteem up off the floor is hard, but utterly worth it in the long run. You are capable.

Happy valentines day!

Abbie

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Decide your future...Or else!!

As a teenager, you are constantly bombarded with the looming idea of 'the future.' You' re force-fed to believe that if you don't know what you are going to do with your life at the age of twelve you are going to go nowhere and completely mess up any career aspects.

Now i'm not saying that you shouldn't work hard. In about a year, I will have to take my final exams and wave goodbye to the comfort of the school I've known for almost four years. Then it's on to further education and ultimately *drum roll* vet school. And, i'm not going to lie, I've worked my socks off to achieve what I have and it has paid off.

Fortunately, I've known what I have wanted to do since I was around five! Ever since my mouth could form the word 'vet'- I knew it was what I could see myself doing in the future. BUT, its not like that for everyone.

All I want to say is, don't fret if you haven't got a plan for your future. Focus on what you enjoy, if you spend your time sweating over the future, you won't enjoy the present. Cliche I know, but bear with me...

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More than anyone, I know the immense pressure teenagers are under to achieve well, I feel your pain! But you will get through school, no matter if you have no clue what you would like to do with your life! Keep going and do what you love, it could be that you have a eureka moment and realize what you have been doing as a hobby this whole time, is really your dream job!

Don't let them get to you,

Abbie

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Camera woes

For no fault of my own, my camera is playing up. ):

I have oodles and oodles of ideas for blog posts and plenty of ideas for photos that go with them. I want to make the most of what we have left of winter and the photogenic scenery that it brings. However, I am going to have to sit still  and wait for my camera to be fixed. In the meantime, I will try to ignore my lack of photos and continue blogging as usual.

grr.

Abbie

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The good news

There's too many negative, sad and down right boring things all over media lately. And, I don't know about you, but I've had enough. 

So, I've decided to take it into my own hands to spread a little positivity in this small space of the web. Inspired By Tom Fletcher's, good news video- here are 5 positive articles, sayings, feelings and thingymebobs:

1. You are great! You really are, no matter how many photo-shopped beauties you see on the cover of magazines. When In doubt, think to yourself; if I was to bump into this random model on the street, would I recognize her? The answer is most probably, no. The model in the magazine can't even recognize the model in the magazine, not when the Photoshop wizards get involved.

2.Hot chocolate, may I say anymore. On a cold winters day when it feels as if the world is resting on your shoulders, you can go home, unwind and sip chocolaty goodness. Unless you don't like hot chocolate which in that case 1) you are missing out and 2)just skip to reason 3.

3.Baby animals, even if you don't like the fully grown things- you've got to admit the young 'uns are adorable. In the UK, more than 16 million lambs are born each year alone. If the thought of a lamb, frolicking through a field, isn't a good thing- I don't know what is!

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4. Everyday, thousands of people perform acts of kindness. From a stranger holding the door open for you, (even if you have to do that awkward jog to get to the door so they're not waiting forever) to a brain surgeon performing life saving surgery. We focus so much on the bad things, we forget how memorizing our world can be.

5. Lastly, books. You can never have enough, can you? I most certainty can't. And, being able to dive into the escape that is a book- you cannot beat it. Call me old fashioned, but I can't see myself 'cuddling up with a Kindle' On top of that, the smell of new books- need I say more? Apparently, that scent's a candle  now too- if that floats your boat.

So there you have it, five (totally random) things to be happy about. And, there are thousands- I could go on forever! The best part about this all, when reading around for ideas I stumbled across this. An online newspaper, dedicated only to spreading positive news. That's pretty damn awesome, don't ya think.

What about you, do you think there's too much negativity in the media? Or, do you have your own ideas of what we should be happy about, or even an inspiring story to share, let me know! Maybe this will become a thing I go back to occasionally.

Stay happy,

Abbie

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Inspiration

As an enjoyer (yes that is now a word) of all things arty, crafty and pretty, I relish in quotes, knick-knacks and tutorials that give me inspiration.

However, on the dull days when nothing is inspiring, I try to inspire and motivate myself.

And, as a result of this, my aim this year is to find inspiration everywhere, even if it does not jump out at me- in the little glances of passer-by's, in the paws of puppy's, in the trees in the park.

If something catches your eye, take a picture of it mentally- or literally- to relate back to when you are lacking inspiration; you never know when you when you might need it. You don't even want to see my camera roll, unless I scroll through every picture, explaining why I have a random picture of a tree or a lake or my hand or whatever on it, it makes no sense to anyone whatsoever.

But it's a treasure trove of inspiration to me.

Abbie

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